Love And
by mauled by squirrels
Summary: A story in which Rukia makes a friend, Hitsugaya has issues with feelings, the Hougyoku is shattered, 13th squad gets a new vice-captain, Byakuya tries to marry off his sister, and two ice wielders take the leap from friends to something else.
1. Prologue: Love and Loss

Don't own Bleach, don't own the song ("Clouds Crash, by the Matches—if you listen to it for this story just imagine a chick singing). People will probably be out of character, but that's ok (at least with me) because this pairing won't be happening anytime soon in the series. Or ever. No matter how much I or anyone else likes them. So out of character ness to me would make sense to pit Rukia and Hitsugaya together. And if you like Hinamori, sorry kiddo. I don't mean to make her come off as anything horrible, but writing up her fate as I do in this story just made it easier for those two to connect.

p.s. if it's a tad redundant or…bad in general…I don't apologize. This is for fun. (Besides, I hadn't written in a while) Also, I like stories with strong, independent women (I guess it's just the feminist in me)—none of that damsel in distress crap. Rukia is definitely not that distressed princess type to begin with (especially attitude-wise), and so for this story she'll be stronger with more of her inner demons tamed.

p.s.s. It's fan-fiction. If it doesn't make sense, chill out.

"Love And…"

_Prologue: Love and Loss: finding new friends in dark places_

After all the years, the friendship, the love… she had left. His first love and long-time friend had gone from his side forever to remain the ever-faithful vice-captain of a power hungry monster.

No injury was more painful than the blow he received when he realized that he was not enough to make her stay.

Comrades and enemies alike were strewn about the battle field. Bruised, battered, dead…

Aizen was dead—and it was for real this time—along with his fellow traitors, Gin Ichimaru, Kaname Tousen, and the most recently added Momo Hinamori. Their corpses were found, inspected, and disposed of.

It was the end. That was when the snow began.

_Two and a half months later._

It was snowing. _AGAIN_. It had been going on and off ever since the defeat of Aizen nearly three months ago. Everyone was getting sick of it—even the captains. His colleagues had tried to talk to him, help him over come his grief. The results were little to none. Pretty obvious when you consider that it was supposed to be early spring.

Everyone tried to comfort him, make him see reason, but no one ever dared complain. Not out loud, and especially not to him.

Though young and on the short side, captain Toushiro Hitsugaya of the 10th division was not someone to mess with when upset. It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a standard Soul Society rule. It was a fucking law of nature.

So when 10th division vice-captain Rangiku Matsumoto and fellow vice-captains Izuru Kira and Shuhei Hisagi stumbled into his office piss-drunk and dripping wet from the snow, complaining about moody ice zanpakuto users and the very out of whack seasons, Hitsugaya slammed his pen down onto the form he was working on and walked out the door. It started snowing harder.

The streets of Soul Society were empty. Not many could stand the cold besides him. He was, after all, the one causing it! And who could blame him? During the war, his childhood friend and crush had left him and the rest of Soul Society to side with Aizen. A loyal vice-captain 'til the end…

God he needed a distraction.

Hitsugaya had cooled down by the time he neared one of the courtyards close to the 13th Division. As he closed in on the 13th division grounds, he heard humming. And then, there was a voice, gentle with an air of sentimentality about it. Within it he heard acceptance slightly tinged with regret.

"_Clouds crash on the hillside_

_Set to sail your soul at high tide_

_High time you left that shadow _

_Dead weight in the meadow _

_Let it follow far below_

_Oh oh oh_

_Woah what a ceiling_

_All the angels cracked and peeling_

_Revealing constellations_

_One day you will name one_

_After the boy that you knew when_

_You were back in middle school and _

_Engraved his name in love notes_

_Every one retained though_

_In a box behind your rain coats_

_Oh those days when rainy days meant_

_Trace the spaces rain drops made when_

_Racing 'cross the windshield _

_The pace of life wasn't real_

_Oh though how it quickened_

_How the slope began to slicken_

_You slip into a grin then begin with where you've been and_

_In my linen you are skin again"_

As the voice continued, Hitsugaya found its source. He lightly chided himself; he should've known it was her. She did, after all, have an ice zanpakuto like he did. She was more than capable of surviving the snow. He put off approaching her for a few moments. The song was ending.

_Óh oh clouds crash on the hillside _

_Set to sail your soul at high tide_

_High time you left that shadow_

_Dead weight in the meadow_

_In my linen you are skin again…"_

The source of the song was perched in a tree, eyes closed with a peaceful expression on her face. Hitsugaya walked up to her.

"You sing way better than you draw." He said.

Surprised indigo eyes met his teal.

"Captain Hitsugaya!" exclaimed Rukia Kuchiki. The 13th squad reaper leapt down next to him and bowed. "I'm sorry! I didn't sense you coming."

"No need to apologize Kuchiki." Hitsugaya waved her off.

"Yes, sir."

The young ice captain noticed Rukia's flustered expression and the tiny glint in her eyes. '_She's probably irked about the drawing comment.'_ He mused. The young captain had gotten to know his subordinate's antics during the first mission to Karakura before the war. He knew the girl could be quite vicious about her artistic ability. Ichigo Kurosaki had the bruises to prove it. He decided to change the subject before she could have any thoughts about kicking him.

"What was that song you were singing?" he asked.

"Oh, just something I picked up while staying on the human world." She replied. She leaned against the tree and looked up at the sky.

She tentatively began, "I think the song calls to let the past go. All your guilt, regrets, last chances…your should-have, could-have, would-haves. The past will always be there—you can't change it. You can still look back even when you don't hold on to it."

Hitsugaya looked at Rukia, blue eyes questioning. What was she getting at? "If you look back to the past even though you've let go, what was the point of letting go in the first place?" he questioned. He wasn't terribly into the idea of a subordinate trying to give him insight on his life.

Rukia stared. "That last part didn't quite make sense then, did it?" She chuckled.

Her companion merely nodded.

"What I meat to express was…if…no…ah!" Rukia's brows were furrowed in concentration.

"Got your words ready, Kuchiki?" Hitsugaya allowed himself a small smirk. But only just a tiny one.

Rukia simply blushed and continued, "What I meant was, since the past is unchangeable and will always be there, don't cling too tightly to it. That'll only keep you from moving forward to the future.""

"Memories are treasures, not chains that bind…" Hitsugaya summed up softly. Rukia nodded. A moment of silence passed between them.

"You must know about the previous vice-captain of my squad." The ebony-haired soul reaper stated.

"A little…" Hitsugaya actually knew the whole thing. Matsumoto was a hopeless gossip fiend. "All of the captains agree they would have done the same had they been in your position. I would rather die than be controlled by a hollow…consumed and turned into a monster, knowing I'd hurt my comrades and loved ones…" the ivory-haired boy glanced at his companion. A small rueful smile graced her lips.

"I blamed myself so long for not being strong enough or smart enough to find a better way."

It was out of character for the young man to be so openly emotional with his actions and words (the snow was something he couldn't exactly help most of the time), but he couldn't be so much of a jerk to a young lady who just allowed him into a small moment of a very personal past. Hitsugaya placed a hand on her shoulder. "No one blamed you…I know I didn't."

"You should offer yourself the same courtesy, Captain." She knew he blamed himself for not being enough to make Hinamori stay. Not enough to keep her from following her heart into the lion's den.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "W-what?!?" he was stunned. But one look into Rukia's eyes and he knew she really understood the feelings of loss and regret and just not being enough to be wanted, dammit!

Rukia merely shrugged and said, "I love the snow—being an ice wielder myself—but I can't enjoy it when I know it's from someone's broken heart. Please feel better, Captain."

As she turned to walk away, he called. "Hey, Kuchiki!" she paused to look back at him. "Can we…talk? Sometime?" he almost timidly asked. He could see it surprised her.

Rukia smiled, not the one from earlier that spoke of hand times, but a smile that was the warmest thing ever to grace Soul Society since the day the snow began.

"Whenever you're ready, sir"

Hitsugaya smiled back (for the first time in ages!).

The snow was coming to a halt.

It was melting! The snow was melting! No one could believe it! Soul Society's well-deserved spring was coming!

Of course, everyone was wondering just what the hell was going on over at the 10th division. However, no one dared ask questions yet for fear of bringing back the cold. That never stopped anyone form stopping by to observe "Snow Machine" Hitsugaya (people prayed dearly that he not find out about the nickname).

It had been three weeks since Hitsugaya had overheard Rukia singing and since then, a small friendship slowly began to form. Five days after the initial run in, the young captain found the girl sitting in the same tree.

_Flashback to 5 days after the singing incident!_

Rukia was day dreaming about just how much better her life would be if she had the new My-Size-Chappy doll. So when Hitsuguya had greeted her, Rukia promptly fell out of the tree.

"Wha!" she yelled as her arms flailed through the air. Hitsugaya merely laughed as she landed with a thud.

"What were you thinking about that had you so wrapped up?" he asked.

Rukia blushed a little _'There is no way I'm telling him about Chappy. He's a captain for god's sake!'_ she thought. She finally answered "Hehe, nothing any consequence, sir." She flashed him a small smile while getting up.

"Mmhmm…" Hitsugaya let it go. _'Judging form the look on her face,_' he thought, '_it could be something completely silly. _

"Anyways…" the young man continued. He wasn't sure how to go on. Matsumoto had him frustrated again by the mere negligence of her paperwork and he had thought it might be a good idea to take another walk…maybe "bump" into the youngest Kuchiki again (he ran a full on search of Soul Society for her reiatsu) and take her up on that offer to talk. Just to vent things out.

But he had no idea how to start. _'So I was really bummed for a while and I still kind of am'_ seemed like a dumb way to begin. He wasn't used to this sort of socializing, this…touchy-feely-emotional-counseling stuff.

So Toushiro Hitsugaya, fearless and strict captain of the 10th division, got nervous. Rukia could tell since the temperature had begun to drop. It hadn't snowed since their first run in. If it got any colder the now melting snow could ice over—if the population of Soul Society couldn't handle the snow, how in the world would they deal with slippery ice?

So she took it upon herself to start. "So…is Vice-captain Matsumoto still dodging paperwork?" she giggled. She then thanked her stars as the temperature normalized.

"Tch." Hitsugaya shook his head. "When does she not?" he plopped himself down at the base of the tree and motioned for Rukia to do the same.

He continued, "I should be used to this by now, but…" There went another five degrees form the temperature. He was getting nervous again. "…I've been so on edge lately." He finished.

Rukia, who was more wise and sensitive than anyone gave her credit for, assured him, "We don't have to do this now. It could wait for tomorrow, or the day after…we could wait a month until you're ready to talk." She tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. "And I'm not talking about how lazy your vice-captain's being." She smiled.

Hitsugaya shook his head. "I'm not weak."

"I never said you were. The mere fact that you're here trying to talk is a sign of your heart's strength." Rukia comforted.

"I'd like to stop feeling this. I want to move on…" His voice cracked. She looked at his face, young like hers, eyes threatened by tears.

"We don't have to rush this. I have today off. I'll gladly wait 'til your ready," her voice was gentle and sincere. She was so nice. They were all too nice. He was mourning a traitor and no one even scolded him for feeling as rotten as he did!

Snow began to fall.

"She wouldn't stay!" he yelled, slamming a fist into the ground. "Why wouldn't she stay? Weren't her friends here enough? Wasn't' I enough? That goddamn traitor could only offer her misery!" his breathing was fast and shallow and the temperature had dropped yet again. "I would have given her everything…" he trailed off.

Rukia breathed in deep, choosing her words and trying to empathize with the 10th division captain. She didn't need a name to know who he was talking about. Rukia slowly exhaled. "Captain, sometimes people don't want what's best for them."

"And sometimes people are just plain dumbasses." He was so angry about Momo's path, so torn up. "She wasted her life!" he was shaking.

The snow thickened. A wind picked up.

Rukia slowly, carefully put her arm around him. Hitsugaya made no move to accept the contact, but he did not deny it either.

"In life, we must all make our own decisions and live with them. As warriors we must also choose the battles worth fighting. I have always been told by my captain that we choose to fight to preserve life or to preserve honor." Rukia paused. _'This could get dicey,'_ she thought. However, she soldiered on.

"A friend of mine once told me that we ultimately fight for our hearts. Miss Hinamori (Hitsugaya winced at the sound of _her_ name)...even though it was a decision that hurt herself, Soul Society, her friends, and unfortunately you (she tightened her arm around him)…I think your dear friend was quite respectable, even 'til the end."

Hitsugaya threw a sharp look at her.

The snow thickened again. The wind howled.

"Ah! Let me explain!" Rukia exclaimed. "I don't agree with what Aizen did at all. He was, after all, the one who tried to get me executed, and I would never side with him ever…but I get the feeling that Miss Hinamori was merely following her heart. As much as it hurt the ones she left behind and herself, she was living her life in the best way she thought she could. All we can expect from ourselves is to live life the best way we can on our own terms and no one else's."

"She did the best she could…" Hitsugaya whispered. "She followed her damn heart into the lion's den!" his head was hung low.

"A decision she made of her own free will." Rukia softly replied.

"She didn't want me. My heart called for hers but she just wouldn't hear it…" he sounded so broken.

"I know...as much as you shout, sometimes you never get an answer, I know…"

"She didn't want me."

"But that doesn't mean she never cared for you either…" Hitsugaya ever so slightly leaned into Rukia's embrace, a hold that remained constant through out his small storm.

They sat in silence. The wind died down, the snow had lessened.

"You know, she and I both grew up in Rukongai together…" Hitsugaya began.

Rukia gave him a gentle smile. "Oh yeah?" she asked, encouraging him to go on.

"Yeah…"

The two spent the rest of the day trading stories and memories of the ones they held dear.

The snow had finally stopped.

End prologue.

Things will probably get sillier from this point on. Good luck.


	2. Love and Work

Don't own Bleach. Boo. Also, something I should have put out there earlier:

I really get a lot of my ideas from other fan-fics out there. I don't have the time to even list out the authors that have inspired this, but if you recognize something, know that I both apologize and thank you. Most likely you wrote something that isn't complete and since it isn't complete and I just _need_ to know the ending to every story I like, I always end up imagining how I would tie up your loose ends. I like to think that this story is the result of all that imagining building up in my head. A release, if you will.

I admit it. This piece will not be really original (sorry kid who left first review). But if you're like me and always jonesing for some new HitsuRuki story, this is for you. An attempt to fill your need (and mine) until something better comes along.

p.s. I operate in English. And I only read the manga and didn't watch the show or movies…so, I don't really know how things with Aizen ended (if the show even got that far). Also, romance will be rather slow in the making. But I swear it will happen.

Also, as I write this chapter, I feel like it's kind of becoming a whole different animal compared to the last installment. And I changed the rating. I didn't think the language was that bad, but then again I am the daughter of a sailor. Cursing is in my blood. Oopsie!

"Love And…"

_CH 1: Love and Work: surprises, promotions, and upset older brothers_

In those final moments of his life, Aizen was truly surprised that a mere ryoka boy and his gullible former colleagues were _actually_ killing him. What a serious downer! If there was ever going to be a road block to his plans for complete domination of the living world and Soul Society, it might as well be death. Naming those damned subordinates of his as the real hindrance of plans or that silly human and his silly human and soul reaper friends was just making lame excuses. Nope. Death was the best excuse anyone could ask for. You can't do anything if you're dead…unless your goal is to not breathe or something. Then death would be perfect for that.

Now, if one were to interview Aizen after his death (I say 'if' because, let's face it, who knows what even happens when soul reapers die…they start off as spirits of the dead in that dimension of theirs, so would they just be double-dead? Is there even a land for the double-dead?) and ask him if there was anything that surprised him more than the fact that his demise was brought about by a mere ryoka boy and his gullible former colleagues, one would receive this answer:

"Why, I can't say that there are many things that would surprise me more than that. I mean, come on! I had those Soul Society twits in the palm of my hand for ages! And that orange-haired brat was just some random anomaly picked up by that Kuchiki kid.

"But…if I really had to choose…it'd be the fact that as I lay there getting beat to death by those Soul Society jerks, the hougyoku had been forced from my body and shattered by the sheer force of their combined reiatsu. Yup, the hougyoku shattered…I'd probably expect that if your average everyday hollow were to imbed a piece of the sphere within itself it would experience a massive increase of power. And just think of the results if it were an arrancar!

"Haha, but I don't think those morons over at Soul Society even know that happened! What a surprise that'll be when they run into a supped up hollow! Oh my god! They'll probably freak out and think that I've returned from the dead! Hahaha!"

Of course, since Aizen is dead you can't ask him anything and he certainly can't provide any answers. But you would have to admit, the information contained in his hypothetical answer would be pretty useful to know. This information of powered up hollows and arrancars would be particularly useful to Rukia, who was currently on a mission to the living world with her squad's two third-seats, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki.

Although the war was over, there were still quite a few of Aizen's monstrosities roaming about worlds. Soul Society decided that the most prudent course of action was to make cleaning squads to take care of the left over messes of hollows from the war. Rukia, Kiyone and Sentaro formed such a squad.

Currently, they had just finished off a hollow in a rural area just outside Karakura city limits. Since it was particularly weak, Rukia and Kiyone let Sentaro finish it off on his own. But alas, just when a soul reaper thinks their work is done…

"Haha! What an easy job!" Sentaro exclaimed.

Kiyone merely rolled her eyes and dead-panned "Which is why it took you so long to beat that hollow. I would've had it killed like that!" and she snapped her fingers. The third seats then began their normal bickering.

Rukia shook her head. '_I don't think I'll ever be able to understand those two.'_ She began to unload the lunches from the pack they had brought along with them when she felt a momentary spike of reiatsu. The young woman froze. Although it was felt for only a matter of seconds, she could tell it was strong. This new presence blew that last hollow out of the water. _Way _out. _Way way waaaaay_ out. Rukia only had a second to act.

"Kiyone! Sentaro! Hadou number 4! White lightning!" A powerful blast of lightning escaped from Rukia's fingertips and pierced through the outstretched arm of the monster that had just appeared. Any later than she was and her two companions would definitely be in the grasp of that hollow.

Kiyone and Sentaro jumped away from the monster after Rukia's hadou spell. The hollow seemed to be trapped in a moment of shock after having its arm blasted off. Its opponents were rather shocked themselves.

'_Just what is going on?'_ Rukia thought.

In form, it looked like any other hollow; same white mask, its large lumbering body reminiscent of an orangutan…but its strength. Its strength was comparable to some of the most powerful arrancars they had to face during the war…

"Crap," Rukia cursed, "On your guard, guys!"

But her warning came too late. The beastly soul eater sent a blast of fire and energy towards Kiyone and Sentaro. Her companions barely dodged the blast with their lives…barely. The attack had left the two third-seats pretty incapacitated.

Rukia quickly released her zanpakuto, shouting out "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" She managed to lead the hollow away from her injured superiors before crying "First dance, tsukishiro!"

The hollow gave a loud screech as it froze in place. The raven-haired girl ran to check on her injured comrades. They lay covered in bloody burns quite a good distance away from where they were hit…the two looked really bad, but not bad enough to be right on death's door…at least not yet.

"Kiyone! Sentaro!" she kneeled down between them. "Are you guys well enough to move?"

Sentaro struggled to sit up and gave the worried reaper a thumbs up. "H-h-he he…no problem for a third-seat under the great Captain Ukitake!" he promptly coughed up blood.

"Psh. You ok there, Goat-face? I could understand _you_ being severely affected by that damn hollow, but me? A-as if!" Kiyone, now sitting up as well, gave Rukia the best smile she could. "Don't worry, Rukia! Let's you and me—the _real_ third-seat under the great Captain Ukitake—get this Goat-man back to Soul Society."

Rukia gave a sigh. "You guys look seriously wounded, but if you're both well enough to be at your old antics—"

"Did you really think it was gonna be that easy?" a raspy voice cut in.

The three froze.

"Crap! We need to call for back up!" Kiyone gasped.

"By then, it may be too late…" Rukia stood up and gazed upon the ridiculously strong hollow she thought she had put down. Or she at least tried. The area where the hollow was once frozen was shrouded in fog.

"Don't take that thing on! Don't Rukia! We're fine!" Sentaro scolded. "We can help!"

Rukia merely snorted, her gaze still fixed on that misty area. "You two are in no condition." A silhouette became visible, yet the shape was different than that of the hollow that had previously attacked…vastly different…

"And _you're_ in no condition to beat him!" Kiyone pleaded. "You aren't strong enough! Just help us escape so we can call Captain Ukitake—"

"Hadou number 63, Howl of Singed Thunder!"

A loud scream of pain caused Rukia to smirk.

"—or you can just charge on in." Kiyone and Sentaro finished. If they weren't hurt all over they'd be smacking their foreheads. The two down-ed reapers could only nervously watch as Rukia confronted the revived monster on her own.

The mists had cleared and there was an arrancar standing where the hollow was. It had long dark hair, a broken version of the mask it wore sitting askew atop his head, and sword in one hand. The only thing about it that was similar to its old form was the newly amputated arm. Rukia's smirk grew. At least she was able to make sure that its arm _stayed_ blown up.

"You can't be the same creature from before." Rukia couldn't help but comment, despite her senses telling her otherwise.

"On the contrary, I am." The monster placed a grin on his very pale face.

"How?"

"Perhaps you three fools were too busy making a picnic and playing with that first inferior hollow, but there was an energy radiating a couple miles from where we stand. The source of that energy…" the hollow-turned-arrancar trailed off just to annoy his opponent.

Rukia's eyes had widened. The smirk had been wiped clean off her face. She had felt a little something before... Maybe it was just because it had been nestled within her for so long, but...well, anyways, she ignored it as some strange blip in her senses. A lot of good that did.

Again, Rukia demanded, "Damn it! How?!?"

"I don't know…" the arrancar taunted. His efforts were soon rewarded.

"NEXT DANCE, HAKUREN!" Rukia's opponent had an easier time dodging her attack than she would have liked. _And_ he was laughing. Rukia was getting angry.

'_Screw this.'_ Rukia had made the mistake of underestimating an enemy before…the result was her becoming a burden to Ichigo and all their friends here in the living world. She spared a side-glance towards her wounded comrades. They watched her while trying to stay conscious.

"Ho ho ho! So angry, yet so small!" the monster chuckled. "Shall I tell you the name of your killer?"

"I'll tell you yours if you can tell me mine," she replied. Rukia knew that if she was ever going to wipe the floor with this arrogant ass she would need to take things to a different level.

Kiyone and Sentaro saw Rukia take a deep breath, preparing to shout…god, it was getting harder to focus. Their vision was getting hazy, their hearing quite fuzzy…they heard Rukia cry something indiscernible and saw the flutter of a white kimono before passing out.

---this is supposed to be a border to separate the first part from the next part. The one in the last installment didn't show up, so now I have to do things this way. Boo---

'_The unthinkable is happening.'_

This phrase had been going through Byakuya Kuchiki's head all morning. Here, in the comfort of the lavish and grand Kuchiki mansion, Byakuya could sit back and properly think up a plan of action.

Everything that he had done to keep his sweet baby sister out of harm's way was coming undone! All the threats and the bribes and the threats! Not to mention a very disconcerting night spent with a very polite but intimidating 4th division captain…

Byakuya shuddered at the memory. _'The unthinkable is happening. All that effort going to waste…'_

_Flashback to the beginning of his horrible, rotten, no-good very bad day:_

Poor old Byakuya Kuchiki, captain of the 6th division, woke up at the crack of dawn with a very bad feeling. Regardless of this foreboding feeling, the stoic man began to get ready for his day—he had a meeting that morning with Head-Captain Yamamoto that he could not be late for.

As the young noble neared the first division office, he couldn't help but notice this bad feeling grow worse…

"Hey! Byakuya!"

Yup, definitely getting worse.

"Hey, wait up! Byakuya!"

Byakuya stopped and turned towards the source of the voice. "Captain Ukitake," he greeted (which wasn't much of a greeting really, but considering who he was, this was as good as it was gonna get).

"Good morning!" Captain Jushiro Ukitake, Byakuya's sickly colleague and leader of the 13th division, finally caught up with him—despite all subtle attempts at speeding away.

"So, you got called in by the head-captain too?" Ukitake asked.

Byakuya merely nodded (again, this was as good as it was gonna get).

"Any idea what this meeting is about?"

Byakuya merely shook his head.

'_I guess this is as good as it's gonna get.'_ Ukitake thought. _'I just hope he takes the news ok.'_ Externally, Ukitake was being as amiable as he always was. Internally, Ukitake was sporting one exceptional grimace. He knew what the meeting was about. I mean, generally, the filling of vice-captain positions—and other positions as well—didn't require special private meetings like this. Usually there was just a simple general meeting with all the captains and vice-captains present to agree on and then welcome the new appointee…but then again, most promotions didn't involve Byakuya's younger sister.

The 13th squad captain let out a sigh—internally, of course. Clearly, things weren't going to go so well if the head-captain needed to break the news to Byakuya _before_ he told all of the others.

'_And of course, the head-captain just had to share this dubious pleasure with me…'_ Ukitake thought.

The two finally arrived in front of Yamamoto's office and were ushered in by the first division vice-captain.

The leader of all soul reapers sat behind his desk thoughtfully stroking his beard. "Good morning, Byakuya, Jushiro." he greeted.

"Good morning, sir." the much much _much_ younger captains responded.

Yamamoto gave a very heavy sigh. "Look, I'm sure both of you know that since the war ended, Soul Society has had to deal with its repercussions."

Both men standing before him nodded.

Yamamoto continued, "I'm sure you also know that in order to deal with the rebuilding of our fine society, I have been working with the rest of your colleagues to find suitable candidates for those positions of captain and vice-captain that are left open."

It was as if a light had been turned on. Byakuya now knew why he and Ukitake had been called to the head-captain's office, yet he dare not voice the answer, not even in the confines of his own mind.

Now, if Byakuya Kuchiki were a more open individual, he would have gasped, smacked his forehead in anticipation, widened his eyes, uttered an "oh my god, you must be joking." Instead, he opted to remain physically unchanged.

"Among these unfilled positions is the spot of 13th division vice-captain..." Yamamoto paused.

As calm and cool as Byakuya was trained to be, nay, _born_ to be, he could not prevent the smallest of eye twitches from escaping his control. Ukitake and the head-captain exchanged glances. _'Oh god, he's going to be a complete brat about this'_ was what these glances said.

"…Captain Ukitake and I both agree that your sister shall be the one to fill such a role. I know that you have discussed with each and everyone of us about the prevention of her attaining any sort of seated position, but—"

All of a sudden, Yamamoto was cut off by a very loud boom. Byakuya looked around in alarm.

"Something wrong, Byakuya?" His boss and fellow-captain looked at him like he was in need of a trip to the 4th division.

"You did not hear that?" For once, he allowed his face to reveal the smallest trace of bewilderment.

His companions shook their heads. It was then, that the Kuchiki clan leader realized that what he had heard was the sound of that foreboding feeling that had been growing within him all morning exploding within his gut.

Again, Ukitake and the head-captain exchange glances. _'Oh god, he's not going to be a brat; he's going to go insane.'_

_End Flashback_

Rukia was a smart girl. She couldn't draw for beans, yet she knew how to talk to people. Although she had struggled a bit when she first joined and could be quite the crazy short-tempered brat, she was well-liked by her fellow reapers in the 13th division (both male and female). She was a loyal friend and comrade until the end. She rivaled the 10th division captain in terms of diligence in the work place. She now had perfect control of her zanpakuto's shikai and was one of the best reapers when it came to kido. She had experience in working in the living world. She was an honored veteran of the war against Aizen. She knew pain—physical and emotional—and how to overcome it. Most importantly, she could kick _serious_ ass.

Nope, Byakuya could not find any serious reason that would make his sister ineligible to take over the role of vice-captain for her squad.

There was only one thing that he could think of to force Rukia out of that position and ultimately out of her duties as a soul reaper. As out-dated and sexist as it was and as much as he would hate it, he firmly believed it was the only way. He _did_ promise to keep her safe after all. _'I only hope you won't hate me, Hisana…'_

_End CH 1: Love and Work_

I told you things would get sillier.

Rukia's shikai abilities: some no mai tsukishiro—first dance, white moon; tsugi no mai, hakuren—next dance, white ripple. I was very indecisive about whether or not to use English for all attack names, or the original Japanese. I've told you before, I operate in English. This was all about making things sound good with doing the least amount of Japanese to English notes as possible. "White ripple" seems less cool than "hakuren" to me, but I needed to stay consistent otherwise I'd be bothered like heck…

And I'll throw Hitsugaya into the next chapter since he wasn't in this on (I felt bad for stating the dedication in the opening of the last chapter even though he never showed up)…it's a little crazy how into this pairing I've become. It's also a little crazy how every plan of action for this story eventually gets me to a flashback.


	3. Love and Compromise

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

I'm attempting to make the updates as regular as possible and each chapter roughly the same length. However, future events are still in the kinks so I don't know how that will work. This is all in an attempt to actually finish a story for once.

Also, I just realized…I don't understand why I titled this story "Love and…" I think I just like that I could play with completing the phrase for each chapter title.

"Love And…"

_Ch 2: Love and Compromise: the battle to stay single (and employed)_

Rukia smiled in satisfaction. The surprisingly powerful freshly transformed arrancar was demolished in a matter of seconds. She caught sight of a strange glimmer on the ground where the arrancar had perished. Carefully, Rukia approached it and found a piece of black rock. It ever so slightly pulsed with a familiar feeling energy, but it seemed harmless enough so she picked it up. Rukia whispered thanks to her zanpakuto and let herself change back to normal.

Suddenly, there was clapping. "Nicely done, Rukia!" a familiar voice congratulated.

"Yeah! Way to go, midget!" another voice called.

Rukia turned around to see the soul reaper turned shop keeper Kisuke Urahara jogging up to her. Not only was the shop keeper accompanied by his employees, but Ichigo, Orihime, Ishida, and Chad.

"Long time no see!" she waved. Rukia closed the distance by giving Ichigo a swift kick to the shin.

"Ah, geez! I was complimenting you, not making fun of you!" Ichigo hopped a little, clutching his injured shin.

"Yeah, sure, which is why you called me 'midget'," she replied. She turned to greet the rest of the gang, but when she got to Orihime, Rukia gasped and cried out "Kiyone! Sentaro!"

She sprinted back to her fallen comrades. "Orihime! Come quick! They need your help!"

After the 13th division third-seats were all patched up (but still quite unconscious, mind you), Rukia asked why everyone was there.

After an hour of question and answer time, Kiyone and Sentaro managed to wake up. The basics of Urahara's explanation of just what had happened to the hollow that they had faced and the implications of this information were given to them. The three 13th division reapers agreed that they should get back and report this to their captain immediately. No more time could be wasted. They bid good bye to their living world allies and left.

"Geez…I didn't expect the hollows left over from the war to be so…strong." Ishida shook his head. "To think that the hougyoku would still be functional even after being broken. Even though it was such a small piece the effect was tremendous…"

"Yeah," Chad agreed. "And I didn't know Rukia had her bankai, did you guys?"

"You know, I think she might have said something about getting it during the war, but before I could ask her about it, all the fighting was done and old man Yama had us sent back here." Ichigo replied.

"Really!?!" Orihime exclaimed with wide eyes of wonder. She stared at the spot where their friend in question had disappeared. "Wow…_that _was Rukia's bankai. She looked suuuuper cool."

"As cool as it looked," Urahara sighed, "it's gonna be a pain to clean up after it. We can't have normal humans wondering about all of this; it's spring for crying out loud."

The group stared around at the snow covered battlefield.

"Wait, is that why you brought us along?" Ichigo whined.

Urahara merely fanned himself in a very poor attempt to hide his grin. "Nooooope! Orihime was needed just in case of severe injuries! Just you guys were needed for the clean up."

"Damn midget!"

-------------------you know, I've read other stories where these divider lines show up crystal clear and not deleted at all. You readers are stuck with this, muahaha----------------

The moment the 13th division reapers set foot on Soul Society ground, they immediately headed towards their captain's office. What mind-blowing information they had learned in the living world! Such a simple mission gone awry!

"You two still alright?" Rukia looked over at Kiyone and Sentaro. Orihime did a wonderful job as always, but on the safe side it'd be nice for her superior officers to get a check up over at 4th division….

"I feel fine," Sentaro replied, "though I don't know about Kiyone, here."

"Shut up!" she shouted. "If anyone needs to be worried over, it's you beard-o!" Kiyone slapped Sentaro's back and continued, "Maybe I should take him to see the healers!"

"Oh, please, if anyone needs to go it should be—"

"Maybe both of you should go." Rukia said. "Just to get checked up. I don't doubt Orihime's abilities, but this was a weird mission…you can't be too safe."

Her companions were about to protest, but she continued, "If you both feel ok, then it'll go super quick and you can meet up with me to report everything to the captain."

"Rukia—"they began.

"Nope! You're our squad's third seats!" Rukia began to push them in the direction of 4th division. "We don't have a vice-captain…Captain Ukitake and everyone else has to rely on you! Go!"

The two grumbled an "okay" and began to race each other to their new destination.

Rukia shook her head. She heard a low whistle from behind her.

"Ordering around you superiors, Kuchiki? That sort of disrespect is punishable."

"Don't you have paperwork to do?" Rukia turned to face Hitsugaya.

The white-haired teen snorted. "Finished it."

"_Including_ your vice-captain's share?"

"Shit." Hitsugaya slapped his forehead. "Knew I forgot something…"

Rukia chuckled. Her friend glared. "Look, you—"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Rukia rolled her eyes. "You're so straight-laced sometimes, Captain. Walk me back to 13th?" Rukia resumed her walk towards her division.

"Hmph," Hitsugaya snorted. "I still have paperwork to do, _remember_?"

"Don't be such a baby!" she called over her shoulder.

Hitsugaya smirked and caught up with her. "Fine. I'm only going because I need a break."

"I feel so _honored_, oh _great_ Captain Hitsugaya."

"Shut up!" the young captain shoved his friend to the side a little. The two continued their walk in an amiable silence when Hitsugaya suddenly said, "Hey! You're still calling me 'Captain.' I thought we talked about this already."

"Sorry! Respectfully addressing your superior is a hard habit to break when you're Byakuya Kuchiki's younger sister…"Rukia giggled. "Besides, _that sort of disrespect is punishable_."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at the quote. "Yeah, yeah, but we're friends now, right? You don't need to call me Captain all the time."

"So…" his young lady friend glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Does this mean I have permission to call you by anything less formal?"

"I would think that would be obvious, Kuchiki."

"Captain Grouchy-face!" Rukia crowed. "No, no! I'm sorry, that's still addressing you as 'Captain.' _Mister_ Grouchy-face is better!"

"That's not what I meant—" Hitsugaya was cut off.

"Rukia, that is no way to address your superior officer."

The pair froze in their tracks. The air had suddenly become thick. Rukia and Hitsugaya could swear that the sky became darker for just a second before reverting back to its original bright springy blue. They turned around.

Low and behold, Byakuya Kuchiki towered over them. Rukia mentally rolled her eyes. God did it suck to act like an ultra-polite, ultra-reserved noblewoman. She knew what was coming and beat her brother to the punch.

"Please forgive my rudeness and informality, Captain Hitsugaya." Her voice was soft and cold as opposed to her usual loud and lively tone. A deep bow accompanied the foreign voice.

Hitsugaya blushed. '_And she calls _me_ straight-laced._' He thought. Here he was trying to get closer to Rukia and her hoity-toity noble brother just had to come along and make it weird. And don't misunderstand about being closer—the young captain only wanted to be better friends and nothing more. Nope, nothing more than friends…Yup, friends…'Cause, trying to take things further might ruin everything they had right now and gosh darn it, he loved what they had right now, but not that he loved _her_, but wait, don't misunderstand that there might be something wrong with Rukia, he loved her, he just, wait, no—

Never mind.

"Rukia, you don't need to apologize." Hitsugaya pulled Rukia out of her bow and turned his gaze towards Byakuya. "She was simply joking around, Captain Kuchiki. What's a joke between friends?"

Byakuya frowned. "Friends or not, a lady of Rukia's status should behave as such." He turned to Rukia. "Rukia, I have some important news to discuss with you."

"Hmm?" Rukia was a little startled as she was introduced back into the conversation. "Yes? Ah! Important news!" Rukia bowed to her brother and waved to her friend. "I need to hurry back and report to Captain Ukitake! Kiyone, Sentaro, and I found out some good information on our mission today!"

Both males shunpoed* in front of Rukia. The poor girl nearly crashed into them.

"What do you mean 'important news'?" Hitsugaya asked. "Did something happen to you over in the living world?" Panic began to latch itself onto the two captains.

"Don't worry, it was nothing I couldn't handle," Rukia replied. "And everyone is fine now." She side stepped the two and continued her journey to 13th division.

"Everyone is fine _now_?" Byakuya repeated.

"As in they weren't _before_?" Hitsugaya added.

"You'll probably hear about it later! It's pretty important for all the cleaning crews to know!" (see chapter 1)

-------------------------bibidybopityboo! Goodness gracious, me oh my! Time is elapsing for this story!---------------------------

Rukia was fidgeting. She couldn't help it! Captain Ukitake didn't need to have her sit through the promotions portion of this meeting just to report all of the happenings in her living-world mission. This was just an irritation since she knew her brother blocked any and all attempts at her advancement in the ranks. She glanced over at her friends. Renji seemed to be just as fidgety as she was; he caught her looking and flashed a grin. Kiyone and Sentaro were in some silent contest to prove who was better. Matsumoto looked ready to fall asleep while an annoyed Hitsugaya tried to stay as focused as possible on the meeting instead of smacking her. She shook her head and smiled.

"Well, then," the head-captain cleared his throat. "Now that the rest of the empty positions have been settled, our last promotion to be agreed upon will be that of the 13th division vice-captain. Up for this position is Rukia Kuchiki."

Suddenly, it seemed as if all eyes were on Rukia and her brother. Rukia looked genuinely shocked—did they forget her brother's talks? The head-captain's last statement caused her to choke on her own saliva. She coughed and spluttered out "Me?" It was almost cute how surprised she was and the reaction made most smile.

Byakuya, on the other hand, was not so much fun. Everyone knew how overly protective he was about his sister, but this was ridiculous. Not even a twitch from the nobleman's face had surfaced. Shouldn't he be more freaked out?

"Is everyone in agreement?" Yamamoto asked.

Everyone was about to accept the promotion when Byakuya said, "I disagree."

Everyone sighed. "On what grounds?" Ukitake said. "Rukia is an accomplished fighter, good with her fellow reapers in the 13th squad and always manages to get her paperwork done on time."

"On the grounds that Rukia is soon to be wed." Byakuya responded. "As you all know, once a noble woman weds, she is subject to the demands of her responsibilities to her new family." Byakuya could not let himself look at Rukia's face. He hated himself for this decision, but he hated the thought of her going into dangerous missions even more. Better for her to be alive and safe in the arms of some schmuck husband he could control and intimidate than out in the world fighting monsters. "She will have to retire from her soul reaper duties, and we will again need to vote on another replacement. There is no point in promoting her to vice-captain when she will need to be replaced so soon."

Everyone, from the most unconcerned 11th and 12th division captains to the very surprised and angry 10th division captain and vice-captain, had the same thought: _what a load of bull_.

All eyes were again on Rukia. Her mouth was agape and her shoulders slumped. Her gaze was wide-eyed and confused. In a flash, she shut her mouth, her shoulders tensed. Her eyes no longer held the phrase "What the fuck!" and her hands had turned into fists. That certain brand of spunk that carried Rukia through her days in the streets, the academy, and the tough times as a soul reaper reared its head and finally shoved the "stuffy reserved lady of good breeding" parts of her into the trash can for good.

"You never said anything about getting married." She turned to her brother, blue-violet eyes blazing.

"Rukia, this is not the time to discuss this." _'Be rebellious another time!_' Byakuya pleaded mentally.

"On the contrary," she responded in the coldest tone she could muster, "it is. You obviously pointed out that this pertains to my career as a soul reaper. More importantly, it pertains to my life. I can't have an arranged marriage!" Rukia did her best to breathe evenly and speak calmly. Meetings were not the time to fly off the handle…even if she did want to blast her brother's face off with a hadou spell.

"Rukia, you are of one of the noble houses of Soul Society. This is only natural."

Rukia knew what this meant. It meant 'shut it or I will make you.' For a moment, no one uttered a word—not her captain, not her friends… The young girl's world seemed to slow to a stop. How could this happen? Didn't her brother care? She watched everyone around her get rewarded for their abilities while she got set aside and received nothing! No, the subject was closed for now, but if Byakuya wanted to play this game, Rukia decided she would take him on full force.

Byakuya watched Rukia smile, as did everyone else. What was she thinking? This was a very sexist and unfair thing that was happening to her! Was she going mad from being trapped with that uptight clan for so long?

Only a few people seemed to get that the wheels in her head were turning. At that moment, Hitsugaya wanted nothing more than to peek insider her head (and for her not to get married to some rich weirdo) to see exactly what she was planning. He was fully prepared to leap to her aid if she decided to finally stick it to her brother.

Rukia's smile had become a very wide, maniacal grin before she finally responded, "Very well then, _dear _brother…I shall quit my job and marry whatever man you have chosen for me…"

Byakuya nearly sighed in relief before she continued to say, "…but _only_ if he can beat me within the span of 10 minutes. As you know, I would do anything in my power to help a friend. This gets me into trouble, which my husband will have to help me out of. If my future husband is unable to beat even _me_, then he really can't be that suitable of a protector and provider at all."

'_This will be perfect!_' Rukia thought. '_He probably doesn't _really _want me to be married just to get me out of this job, so he'll probably take it on the chance of not really having me married, plus that protector provider junk makes sense…and everyone will gossip if he turns it down—it would be the head of the Kuchiki clan saying that none of the noble families are able to produce a warrior strong enough to fight little ol' me,_ _that would be a _major_ slap in the face and the clan would have a field day doing damage control…and if he does accept, gossip will still spread and he'll have to deal with suitors coming and asking me to fight, something that will bug the crap out of him!_' If it was physically possible for Rukia to smile wider, it would have happened already. '_Any one really powerful enough to beat me won't be interested in marrying me, so I can keep my job and not have a forced wedding!_'

"What?!?" it was Byakuya's turn to choke on his own spit. The room as in awe to see the stony Byakuya visibly distressed. They had to fight hard to keep their laughter hidden—this promotions meeting was getting more and more ridiculous!

"You heard me," Rukia replied. "You bring the suitor, I'll bring the pain. Think of it as a very elaborate wedding gift."

"Bahahahahaha!" everyone turned to see the head-captain slapping his knee and shaking with laughter. He wiped tears from his eyes and said, "Byakuya, I think this is the best you're going to get from her. Hahaha!"

The elder Kuchiki knew the truth in the head-captain's giggling words. After years of being siblings, Rukia could tell that she had guessed his reaction correctly.

When Byakuya finally agreed to this fighting match to marry business, Rukia clapped her hands and cheered, "Wonderful! Each fighter must get permission from you and then he shall fight me for 10 minutes! If he can't beat me within that time span, he can't have me!" The siblings shook on it.

"Great!" Ukitake exclaimed. "And in the mean time, Rukia can work as my vice-captain!" he clapped a hand on her shoulder.

Byakuya almost pouted. _Almost._ '_Ah well,_' he thought, '_it can't hurt to try this little compromise out for a bit._'

"Ah, well," Yamamoto commanded everyone's attention. "Unless there are other complaints, since the captain of the 6th is the only dissenter, Rukia shall work as the 13th squad vice-captain until she is married—unless her husband deems otherwise." The old man gave a cherry smile through his beard and mustache at the girl before declaring, "Now, let's have a fifteen minute break before listening to the report 13th has to give on some new found information. It's been quite an _unusual_ promotions meeting."

_End CH 2: Love and Compromise_

Once again, language decisions. Shunpo sounds cooler than flash step to me. Flash step makes me thing of Flash Dance, one of the lamest movies I have ever had the displeasure to see. No offense if you like it.


	4. Love and War

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

Thanks for taking time to review guys. When I first started this, I expected things to be a bit more adventurey than this…oh well, hope to keep your interest in the future despite it! And yes, I understand that things concerning the noble families could be a bit wonky. Oppsie poopsie. I'm a dork and try to do research before I set what I write down in stone, but I can only find so much. Eventually I have to wing it.

I'm behind on the weekly-ness of my updates because of a road trip. How distressing (to me…not necessarily you).

Also, _'these are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Late, but I'm throwing it out there.

"Love And…"

_CH 3: Love and War: Hitsugaya admits the truth, the appearance of rivals, and the first fight_

Hitsugaya sighed. All of the captains and vice-captains (minus the 13th division who were speaking privately with the head-captain and Byakuya who was sulking in a corner) were all buzzing with gossip outside the meeting room. What an explosive turn of events! He knew Rukia's brother was very adamant about keeping the girl out of harm's way, but this was ludicrous! _'I suppose things like arranged marriages are still possible for the noble families, but I never figured a brother like Byakuya would be willing to give her away like that…'_ he thought.

The soul reaping prodigy smiled. _'But damn did she work her way out it. She's too good for just some random spoiled rich kid!'_

"Why so smiley, Captain?" Matsumoto chirped. "Is it because you plan on fighting little Rukia for marriage?"

"Gah!" Hitsugaya's face turned bright crimson. "W-what are you on about, Matsumoto?!?"

His vice-captain shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about…" she threw her captain a sly look. "I know you two are getting _pretty_ friendly with each other. And how can you resist, since she's such a cutie!"

"You're crazy, Matsumoto! We're 'getting pretty friendly' because that's just it! We're friends!"

"Aww, me thinks the captain doth protest too much…"

Toushiro Hitsugaya was a young man of many interests…but that certainly didn't include one Rukia Kuchiki…maybe. _'Okay,'_ he thought. _'So what if I _am_ interested? That doesn't mean we should rush into this marriage thing so soon!'_ Hitsugaya frowned at the teasing Matsumoto. _'Besides, you need Byakuya's approval for the match to count and he's probably only looking to give that to nobles…'_

"Hmm?" Renji Abarai, vice-captain of the 6th division and one of Rukia's best friends, overheard their little conversation. "I didn't know you and Rukia were friends." He barked out a laugh and clapped his white-haired superior on the back. "No wonder the weather's all better! Rukia has a habit of getting inside your head like that." He received a small growl and stepped back, muttering an apology.

"Hey, Renji, you're pretty close to Rukia," Matsumoto said, "don't you think my captain would be a good match for her?" The strawberry blonde giggled.

Renji laughed along with her. "I don't know…we'd be giving Rukia control over the seasons if we let him have her."

"But unlike other guys, Rukia wouldn't have any problems making out with him since they're both so short!"

The two vice-captains continued to chuckle at their jokes until Hitsugaya finally snapped at them. "I don't recall it being okay for my inferior officers to make such jokes about my temper and height."

That certainly shut them up.

Hitsugaya crossed his arms and muttered, "Besides, my temper is _not _that bad and I am _not _that short.

The entire group—who had been listening in on the conversation because, let's face it, since when did anyone ever describe Hitsugaya as "smiley"—burst out laughing.

"What?" the young man turned to face their spectators. He suddenly felt the weight of something very much like a chin rest on his shoulder along with the heat of a body.

"They do have a point you know," said a very familiar voice _very_ close to his ear.

The boy turned his head only to blush even brighter than before. The girl of the hour was there, perching her pretty little head on his (now) very tense shoulder, her nose barely brushing up against his. Hitsugaya quickly jumped away.

"K-Kuchiki!" he stuttered.

Rukia grinned. "Your temper does tend to suck a little."

"And you have to admit, Toushiro, you still haven't had that growth spurt you've been waiting for." Ukitake chortled.

"Why am I being ganged up on?" complained the poor boy.

"Oh, Mister Grouchy-face, you're just too fun to tease!" Rukia laughed.

"I thought you weren't gonna call me that!"

"And I thought you wanted to be less formal!" Rukia mocked. "Besides, we never had any sort of arrangement that said I couldn't call you 'Mister Grouchy-face!'"

Ukitake looked from his new vice-captain to his favorite fellow captain. _'I wonder if little Toushiro would make Rukia quit her job if they got married?' _he mused. "Now now you two! No more time to tease him, Rukia! Everyone, it's time to start the meeting again!"

They all entered the meeting room to see Ichigo, Urahara and the rest of their living world allies there with the head-captain and the 1st squad vice-captain.

Everyone was surprised, yet a certain noble was thrown into a world of worry—again. Byakuya had completely forgotten about Ichigo. What if he had feelings for his sister? The two were particularly close… Ichigo would certainly have no problem beating her at her little game and then what would he do? He would have to give his sister away to that insolent human!

'_Calm yourself, Byakuya,'_ he thought to himself, _'he might not feel that way towards Rukia, and she once said she never felt anything more than friendship towards him. If the time comes, just deny him permission to fight the match.'_ Byakuya allowed himself the slightest of smirks. _'Yes, I still have control over this.'_

If only, the noble knew of the much shorter problem he had to worry about…

--------------as I write this, my sister sits on her bed going "Wee! Wee! WEE WEE!" for no apparent reason at all. Somebody help!---------------

"So, long story short, the force we used to finally kill Aizen was strong enough to inadvertently expel the hougyoku from his body, shatter it, and send the pieces off into different places." Urahara summed up for the room.

"Kiyone, Sentaro and I had run into a hollow out in the human world that had used a piece of the hougyoku to become a full blown arrancar," added in Rukia. "So clearly, these pieces are still giant sources of power, and that their locations must not be confined to Hueco Mundo where Aizen was killed. There could be pieces in the living world and in Soul Society as well."

"So all three of you defeated that arrancar yourselves?" asked the head-captain.

Kiyone and Sentaro scrambled to answer before Rukia could. "Nope!" they said in unison.

"Goat-face here—"

"Silly old Kiyone—"

"Could both of you just carry on with the report normally?" Yamamoto drawled.

The two third seats froze. "Sir!" the two saluted, backs straight.

"Rukia was able to sense the hollow before us, and despite her warnings and help, we became incapacitated!" Kiyone said. "Thus, she had to fight the hollow turned arrancar by herself!" The quarrelsome pair gazed at their now blushing comrade with pride.

"Our new vice-captain here used her bankai to defeat the enemy in a matter of seconds!" Sentaro bragged. "At least that's what everyone else said happened. We were passed out so we couldn't watch the transformation or the battle clearly."

Many an eyebrow was raised.

"Is this true?" Hitsugaya asked, his voice slightly hopeful. He unconsciously held his breath.

"Yes it is, my little captain friend!" Urahara answered. "And what a bankai it is! Quite fitting for such a beautiful zanpakuto and wielder! Ouch!" The shady salesman rubbed his shin. "Rukia!" he whined. "It was a compliment!"

Hitsugaya exhaled. _'That means I won't have to worry as much whenever there's an engagement match…'_ He thought, glancing over at Ichigo and Renji. _'Or not…'_ Hitsugaya knew Rukia was close with both men—just _how_ close had yet to be determined. His eyes wandered the room and landed on Byakuya, who now only looked slightly distressed. _'But Byakuya probably doesn't want to give either of them the cha—no! What am I thinking! Why am I this concerned? Can I be that attached to the girl after only a few months?!?'_ He stole a glace at Rukia.

'_Who am I kidding?'_ Hitsugaya shook his head. _'Maybe I should have a chat with Byakuya after all…'_

"—guya...Captain Hitsuguya!" boomed Yamamoto. "It is quite unlike you to be so inattentive during a meeting!"

The young captain blushed as he heard scattered giggling through out the room. Matsumoto lightly elbowed him and whispered "I saw you looking at Rukia! Captain has a cruu-ush!"

"I'm sorry, sir!" he bowed, ignoring his vice-captains ribbing.

"As I was trying to tell you, Toushiro," the head captain sighed, "I'd rather not underestimate the effects of these hougyoku pieces and needlessly lose the lives of soul reapers unable to handle the monsters they create. You are to lead a special team that will investigate any and all reports about abnormally strong hollows and the like in order to collect the pieces of the hougyoku for proper destruction. You may choose whoever you see fit to join—and should your work take you to the living world you will have the assistance of our living world allies here today. However, your only condition is that Rukia Kuchiki must be on this team."

"Kuchiki?" he questioned.

The head captain shook his head. "_If_ you had been listening earlier, you would have heard Kisuke's explanation that since the hougyoku had been resting inside Rukia for so long, she has the best chance of sensing whether or not the hollow or arrancar you face is affected by a piece of it. Until he or the 12th division develop any sort of device to find these pieces you'll have to rely on her and reports from other soul reapers to find them." The old man turned towards Byakuya, who was poised to protest.

"And _no_, Byakuya, this is important and we need Rukia on this assignment. I'm sure there will be intervals where you can get her to fight someone in hopes of making her marry and quit, but for now let the matter rest. Besides," the old man's eyes twinkled, "Her powers would compliment Toushiro's very well since they share the same element."

"Now, if there are no more matters to attend to…" Yamamoto looked around the room. "…then meeting adjourned!"

Hitsugaya looked over at Rukia, who noticed and waved.

"I bet we're gonna get along great!" Rukia predicted. "Just like the head-captain said!"

Hitsugaya smirked and ruffled her hair. "Just don't let your wacky noble-marriage-fighting stuff get in the way ok?"

Rukia swatted his hand away. "Psh! No way!" She tried to fix the hair her friend messed up. She pointed a thumb towards herself and beamed. "This reaper isn't quitting until she's good and ready to! I'd rather go on search and destroy missions with you than hang out with stuffy rich guys any day!"

Hitsugaya left the meeting lighter than air.

----------------one reviewer said these dividers gave thing some personality. I wonder what kind of personality it has? Perhaps it likes walks on the beach? Maybe it prefers blondes over brunettes. Wish there was some way we could ask.----------------

Daisuke Tokugawa walked about with an air of importance about him. He was after all, next in line to lead one of Soul Society's most brilliant—nay, _the_ most brilliant—noble families. He was tall, good looking with dark hair and a boyish face, rich, and popular with the ladies. Sure it didn't matter that he wasn't ranked among the other soul reapers of squad 10, but who needed that when you lived the good life? Besides, he was powerful enough with out talking to that fudy-dudy captain of his about promoting him. Who needed to work more as a ranked officer when you were rich and attractive?

'_Ladies, ladies ladies!'_ Daisuke thought as he strutted down the street towards the 13th division.

And now as if his life couldn't get any better, Yukina Kuchiki, the pretty (but not as pretty as him) younger sister of Byakuya Kuchiki, had the good fortune of getting betrothed to super awesome him! Well, kind of betrothed. The silly girl apparently insisted that he fight a sparring match with her to determine his worthiness. Come on though! Daisuke was confident he could wipe the floor with his future wife in a second—and he could do it with out damaging her pretty little face (cause let's face it, who wants to marry someone ugly?).

'_Well, I suppose it _would_ be_ _a tragedy that I'll have to be tied down…'_ the young narcissist contemplated. _'…but she is supposed to be quite lovely…'_ He turned and waved to a group of giggling girls who were ogling him. _'…ladies, ladies, ladies. I guess maybe I could just play around. I'm sure my lovely new wife will be so in love with me that she won't care what I do as long as we're married.'_

Yes, _Rukia_ Kuchiki had quite the surprise in store for her that day

----------------------Daisuke Tokugawa in my head was intended to be quite the evil player asshole (not to mention vengefulhint at future events!)…but now I'm afraid he's turned into Mung Dahl from Chowder—which I also don't own….ladies, ladies, ladies!------------------------------

The next day, word spread that the first suitor to fight Rukia was from the Tokugawa clan and that the match was that afternoon.

"Ahh!" Rukia yelled in frustration.

"Geez, your brother doesn't waste any time, does he?" Ichigo said. He, Chad, Orihime, and Ishida were spending spring break in Soul Society. They had been updated on all that transpired before they arrived to the meeting with Urahara and were currently hanging out with Rukia and Renji at the 13th division training grounds waiting for the first match to start.

"It's just like that episode of Fairytale Galaxy!" Orihime said. "Where the princess has to wait for the prince and then they get into this _huge_ battle with a space dragon but the prince is a terrible fighter who tried using the princess as a human shield, and-and, then this dolphin comes along…" the imaginative girl prattled on.

"Right…so," Renji started, "do you know who this guy is?"

"Bah!" Rukia yelled again. "Psh!" She crossed her arms and started pacing.

"Daisuke Tokugawa." A female voice answered from behind the group.

Everyone turned to see Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, along with Ikkaku and Yumichika from the 11th division.

"Hey, you guys!" Ichigo greeted. "You know the guy who's gonna try to marry Rukia?"

"Yes," Hitsugaya answered. "He's from our squad and is nothing but an overindulged selfish bum."

"But he's quite popular with the ladies!" Matsumoto added.

"Well, not with this one!" Rukia declared.

"Speaking proper words now, are we?" Renji dead-panned. He barely dodged a kick to the shin.

"Shut up, Renji" Rukia barked. "He's an insipid megalomaniac!" She paced some more.

"What's a matter?" Ikkaku asked. "You can't actually be worried about fighting this punk? Hitsugaya ("_Captain_ Hitsugaya!" the white-haired teen cried) and Matsumoto here say he's not even a seated officer."

"Of course I'm not worried about that twit! I was at the academy with him and all he did was goof around! It was a wonder he even became a soul reaper at all!" Rukia continued to pace and rant. "What's really got me riled is that my brother, who always claims to have my best interest at heart, would pick such a lousy _jerk_ to try and pair me off with! Agh!" She threw her arms in the air. "I know I don't want to get married and quit my job, but this is just insulting!"

Rukia was breathing hard now, and everyone (besides the day-dreaming Orihime) subtly backed away. "And you know what else? When we were all in the academy and before I was adopted by the Kuchiki's, he would make fun of me and Renji and anyone else from the Rukon Districts!"

"He used to do that?" Renji queried. "I don't remem—"

"Of course you don't! You were off with your other friends when he'd do it, but he did!" Rukia snapped back. "He used to make fun of others because he thought he was so god damn special. He'd even get the other students in on it too!" Rukia rubbed both her hands together. "But I showed them! Those little brats had not thing to laugh about anymore when I got through with them! But now, he doesn't even remember that I was that same kid he used to make fun of for being poor…guess I'll have to teach him another lesson!"

There was an awkward pause.

"No, Rukia! Don't eat the pickled-tart! It's soaked in formaldehyde and you'll die!" Orihime wailed.

Rukia sighed. "Sometimes I really wonder if my brother _thinks_ about exactly what he's doing when it comes to my life…"

"Of course I do."

Everyone jumped at the sound of Byakuya's voice.

'_Why does he always sneak up at the wrong time?' _Rukia mentally whined.

Her elder brother had shown up with Captain Ukitake and her third seat buddies. _'He probably couldn't find a way to ditch them.'_

"Rukia!" Ukitake exclaimed pulling the girl into a huge hug. "We'll all be rooting for you! No offense, Byakuya!" he sheepishly added in.

The stoic noble merely stared off to the other side of the training grounds, making neither sound nor movement. More and more people were coming in to get good spots to see the fight: of course, almost all of the 13th division was there to support their vice-captain (the news of Rukia's promotion was very well-received despite her previous unseated status), and many reapers—even other captains and vice-captains—from the other divisions had come along as well, curious to see how well Rukia's little scheme would go.

"Vice-captain Kuchiki," 2nd division Captain Soifon greeted unexpectedly. "Good luck out there."

Rukia stuttered out a thank you.

The rather intimidating woman nodded. "We must all band together to defeat the patriarchy that oppresses us women. Your clan's rules on marriage and duty are absurdly out-dated."

"That was weird." Hitsugaya commented as the group watched Soifon wander off to some unoccupied spot.

"Figures she'd be a feminazi," Ichigo chuckled.

"She is right though," Rukia said. "Intense, but right." The short girl turned to Ichigo. "What's a feminatty?"

Before Ichigo could answer there was loud cheering coming from a large group of girls.

"Looks like Tokugawa's here," Hitsugaya sneered. Normally, the young captain was more loyal and respectful of the soul reapers he led, but normally, they weren't womanizing, lazy, spoiled, and trying to steal his girl. _'God I have it bad.'_ He thought. _'My girl…'_ he looked over at the glaring Rukia. _'I probably shouldn't let her find out about that.'_

Rukia growled out some very unlady-like words before Daisuke stopped in front of her brother and bowed lavishly.

"Captain Kuchiki, good afternoon." Daisuke turned to Rukia and winked. "You too, Yukina."

Rukia looked at her brother. He had unfrozen himself and attempted to surreptitiously glance at her. She could read the expression in Byakuya's eyes: _I am _so _sorry. You're right, I had no idea what I was thinking. I thought he was better than this._

'_At least he seems to acknowledge he's picked out a total ass.'_ Rukia scowled.

"Well, Daisuke, seeing as I can't really revoke my approval of your match," Byakuya began, "we'll just have to see how you fair against my sister."

It is a common legend in Soul Society that when Byakuya Kuchiki performs any obvious act of affection out of his own volition, ten families of departed souls in the Rukon Districts will be reunited (even the reunion of _one_ family is practically impossible). That being said, Byakuya placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, lovingly smirked, and whispered "I was wrong to choose him. Kick his ass, little sister."

Rukia's eyes widened along with everyone else's. _'Some orphans probably found their lost parents…'_ was the one thought crossing their minds.

"Any ways," Rukia said, turning away from her brother. "Since you have procured my brother's approval, there are only two rules you must abide by."

"Sure thing, sweets," Daisuke cooed while checking out Orihime. The poor girl, who was almost incapable of glaring, left the job of looking pissed and intimidating to her companions as she shyly hid behind Ichigo and Chad.

"Rule one: You have exactly ten minutes to defeat me. _When_ I defeat you (Daisuke snorted, Hitsugaya growled) or, if by some miracle you are still standing along with me, you will NOT be given my hand in marriage." Rukia snapped her fingers to get the distracted noble to look her in the face. "I repeat, YOU WILL _NOT_ BE MARRYING ME. EVER. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my dear princess."

"Rule two: in the highly unlikely event of my loss, should there be evidence of cheating to defeat me, you will be disqualified and I shall remove your head."

"Rukia!" Byakuya scolded.

"Fine, just an arm."

"_Rukia_…"

"A finger then."

Rukia smirked. _'I'm going to enjoy this. Too bad it's gonna be over so quickly.'_ She thought as she and Daisuke walked to the center of the field.

"I'll be timing the fight!" Ukitake called. "Ready?"

The two fighters—or rather _one _fighter and one...guy—drew their swords.

"Fight!"

_End CH 3:Love and War_

Oh the silliness. Excuse any typos and grammar errors and such. I do what I can. Also, I figured Rukia's violence and slight craziness justified the chapter title.


	5. Love and Quests

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

To a certain reviewer who said "She better win!" How could you even say that? This is a HitsuRuki fic! Not HitsuNobody and RukiDickhead fic. Pish posh!

But oh! An action scene! The fight's a little anti-climactic, but I guess everything has a reason. And I hope everything I pictured in my head comes across clearly. Oh well…

Also, _'these are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Just throwing it out there.

"Love And…"

_CH 4: Love and Quests: for love and for revenge_

The crowd of onlookers waited nervously for the fight to start. What would happen to Rukia? Sure, she had been promoted to vice-captaincy of her division, but recently she was just like Daisuke…

Rukia's friends and all the captains and other vice-captains knew, of course, that Rukia was more than capable of taking care of herself. She did acquire her bankai, after all. What could Daisuke do to her?

"Fight!" cried Ukitake.

Daisuke let out a yell and charged Rukia, his sword extended straight out in front of him with both hands wrapped around it.

Hitsugaya and Byakuya gasped. '_What kind of opening move is that? He looks like he aims to kill her!'_

Rukia, however, reacted more calmly. She slipped out of the way of Daisuke's blade before it could pierce her and caught it in her own sword's sheath. Daisuke's face was the picture of surprise, even more so when Rukia used Shirayuki's sheath to twist his sword out of his hands. Rukia swung her sheath so Daisuke's sword went flying away from them.

Daisuke looked like a fish with his big round eyes and gaping mouth. He could only listen to the clatter of his sword hitting the ground and stare at the girl who was going to beat him up. Rukia smirked.

"I'll only say this once," she said, "the name's RUKIA!"

"AGH!"

Rukia had stomped on Daisuke's foot while sheathing her sword. The boy's natural reaction betrayed him—as he cried and bent down to try and assuage the pain in his foot, Rukia's fist flew towards his face (now at a more reachable distance for her) and hit him square in the nose.

CRACK!

Daisuke fell over unconscious with a _very_ busted nose.

The crowd was silent.

"Yeah! GO RUKA!" bellowed Ichigo and Renji.

Rukia looked over to her friends and grinned. The rest of her spectators, especially the ones from the 13th, burst into cheers.

Ukitake smiled and called out "You still have a little over nine minutes left!"

"I knew it was going to be over too quickly." Rukia sauntered over to her friends.

"Seriously, is ten minutes even necessary?" Hitsugaya smiled. _'I want to hug her…'_ he thought, _'but would she be ok with that? And I'm not really the kind of guy to be so touchy feely—besides those two times when we first started really talking…'_

"Well," she winked, "a good lady should _try_ to be generous." She looked over at the unconscious Daisuke. "Even with the hopeless cases." Rukia knew the outcome of her fight with that Tokugawa rat, nevertheless she was so happy! _'If I hugged him right now…but I _did_ just beat up one of his subordinates…' _Rukia dissuaded herself from initiating physical contact.

"Hmm…I guess I should feel bad for him since he is part of my squad…" the young man sarcastically trailed off.

Rukia giggled, but before she could continue their conversation she was pulled away and into a hug by Orihime, who was chattering excitedly.

"You know you don't feel bad," Matsumoto came up and elbowed him.

"I know, I know." Hitsugaya sighed. "_Someone_ needed to show him that he needs to be more serious about his training and work as a soul reaper."

"Weeeeell…" Matsumoto whispered. "I figured it's more like you don't feel bad because he was fighting for a chance to marry the girl you like…"

"WHAT!?!" Hitsugaya yelled. He had come to terms with his feelings (sort of), but it's not like he wanted it known through out Soul Society. He glanced over at Byakuya who was congratulating his sister. The elder Kuchiki left, probably to try and find a stronger less foolish man to try and beat Rukia.

"Don't worry! I doubt Byakuya or anyone else heard." The blonde vice-captain waved him off. "You should talk to her about how you feel."

Hitsugaya gave a "hmph!" and said "I don't think I need your advice." He watched Rukia laugh along with her friends.

Matsumoto and him watched her high-five Ichigo. "Rukia's a tough girl and probably won't lose to any of those rich guys her brother gets to fight her," she began, "But, _eventually_ someone _else_ might come along and win her heart."

"I know you're my captain and I'm your vice-captain, but you're like a little brother to me," Matsumoto sighed. "Please don't wait too long to talk to Rukia. My woman's intuition tells me she'd probably be _really_ happy to know you're interested in her."

Matsumoto made her way to the growing circle of people congratulating Rukia on such a fast win. "HEY, RUKIA!" she bellowed, diving into the crowd. "Way to go, girl!"

'_Okay,'_ Hitsugaya looked up to the sky and made an oath to himself. _'I won't fight her like any of the other guys…she deserves someone who'd rather be with her by winning her heart and getting to know her than beating her on the battlefield.'_ He looked over at the crowd surrounding the object of his affections. Rukia was now being lifted up over their shoulders crying "Wait! Wait! This is too much! It's not like I defeated some high-ranking fighter!"

'_I am going to try to get her to fall for me! And when the time is right, I'll tell her exactly how I feel.'_ The white-haired teen made his way over to join his friends. _'I think I love you, Rukia.'_

---------------------------Aw! So sweet! I'd rather have someone try to be with my through wining my heart instead of trying to beat me up too, Toushiro Hitsugaya! Time elapse!-----------------------------

By the time Daisuke woke up, the sun was beginning to set.

"Ugh!" he groaned. "What happened?" He sat up and clutched his head. He felt a lump of bandages where his nose should be. "Ah! My nose!"

"Oh! You're awake!" a cheerful voice said.

Daisuke looked over and saw an attendant from the 4th division. He realized then that he was lying in a bed in the 4th division infirmary instead of the 13th division training grounds and claiming that Kuchiki girl for his bride.

"My nose! My face!" he cried out to the attendant. "What happened to them?" He was much too distraught to notice that said attendant was cute. What use was a pretty girl when his face was in such a horrid condition?

"You don't remember?" the girl asked incredulously. "Wow, Vice-captain Kuchiki must have hit you pretty hard if the pieces of your broken face did damage to your brain…"

Suddenly, it all came back to Daisuke—arriving at 13th's training grounds, greeting Byakuya and his sister, his sister's cute friend with the boobs…and his very fast and humiliating defeat.

"…I mean, WHAM! What a punch!" the girl giggled. "Boy, you were lucky you were unconscious! Everyone kept cheering for Vice-captain Kuchiki and laughing and pointing at you…"

"…up…"

"…before anyone could attempt to write 'loser' on your forehead, Captain Unohana had us move you over here and fix up your face…"

"I said SHUT UP!" Daisuke cried.

"Geez, sore loser much?" the chatty attendant complained. "Why can't you be cool like Vice-captain Kuchiki? She's a noble like you but I hear from some guys in the 13th that she's pretty cool."

"Be quiet about that woman!" Daisuke crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. He was glaring at nothing in particular. _'Ridiculous! A man as great as me being defeated by a woman that tiny and delicate-looking! What will my family say? What will my friends think? What will the ladies think of me? My face! How could anyone be so evil?'_ Daisuke glared at nothing in particular while that annoying attendant of his went to work tidying up the other beds that were in the room. _'I need to get my honor back!'_

"You! Woman!" the disgraceful noble barked. "Where is Yukina Kuchiki?"

"Hmm?" she turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic attitude. "Now you want me to talk?"

"Whatever! Just tell me where she is!"

"Well, they should still be celebrating over at the 13th division barracks. And it's actually _Rukia_ Kuchiki. How can you try to marry someone without knowing their proper first name?"

"Whatever, woman!" And with that, Daisuke took off for the 13th division.

When he got to the alleged party, Rukia was sitting there on the porch of the barracks next to that tight-ass captain of his…and they were _suspiciously_ close! He could not forgive this! Wounding his face was an unforgivable sin, and to top it all off, the noble woman he was supposed to marry ditched him for that Hitsugaya! How could she? Hitsugaya was of no important social status (if you ignored the fact that he was a captain) _and_ he was from the Rukon Districts! The _Rukon Districts_! Poor! He was poor! It didn't matter that as a captain he had one of the best paid positions in the entire Gotei 13*…he was of a poor background!

"Poor!" shrieked Daisuke. He stomped over to the gathering of friends and pointed an accusing finger at his captain. "Poor!"

Everyone was completely startled by the disgruntled noble. Hitsugaya stood up. "I am your captain! What is the meaning of this, Tokugawa?"

Daisuke turned to Rukia and continued his pointing and screaming. "You! My face! My precious face!"

"Yes, now it matches your personality just fine," Rukia drawled.

"Nah, I think it still needs a black eye or two…" Ichigo sneered.

If Daisuke wasn't so consumed with his unjustified rage ('cause he's just a big jerk acting like a big baby), he would have realized that he was smack in the middle of a group of people scowling at him. But consumed by rage he was, so he continued his rant.

"You damaged my face, Yukina! ("And clearly your brain," she interjected, "I thought I already corrected you?") A noble woman like you _needs_ to be married with a nobleman like me! But instead you're hanging out with these ruffians!" Daisuke's angry finger was once again pointing at Hitsugaya.

Hitsugaya let out an exasperated sigh. It really wouldn't do to for a captain to knock his inferior officer's head off…no matter how incompetent and insolent the officer. _'Besides,'_ he glanced at a very irate Rukia, _'she looks like she'd do the job for me.'_

Before his captain could reprimand him, Rukia coolly informed him, "I'm hanging out with these _'ruffians'_ because I am one." Daisuke gaped. "The 78th district, born and raised**. Before you try to marry someone, I suggest you think a little more about who exactly you're dealing with."

Everyone just stared at Daisuke, who glared at Rukia, who was grinding her teeth along with Hitsugaya, who was super pissed at this very rude soul reaper, just like Byakuya, who hated parties but stayed only because it was a party celebrating Rukia's success in the ranks of soul reapers and in the fight against the little douche bag they were all now staring at…which was Daisuke.

After a few tension-building moments of silence, Daisuke looked at both Rukia and Byakuya and began, "I can't believe this…on top of physical deformation and giant PUBLIC humiliation, you tricked me!" Once again, that pesky little pointing finger of his was out and flying towards Byakuya. "She's not really a noble, she's POOR! A poor STREET RAT!"

"If you wish to keep your finger, I suggest you retract it immediately." Byakuya threatened.

"Indeed," Hitsugaya agreed, "You're already in enough trouble as it is! Insulting not only your captain but a vice-captain of a different squad ("Your girlfriend!" Matsumoto sneezed) has got you a very severe punishment that I have yet to think of! But rest assured, Tokugawa, these insults won't be taken lightly."

Daisuke, much to the surprise of everyone, stood straight as an over-zealous homophobic and announced, "SCREW YOU! Fingers and punishments my ass!" The crazed boy was panting by now. "I swear to you, Yukina, and everyone here! I will get my revenge! What you and your brother have done is disgraceful! You may have defeated me easily but I promise you I will become strong and SMITE YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE!"

And with that, the angry boy ran off.

"Should we go after him?" Orihime, being the nice girl that she is, asked.

"Psh, I'll deal with that simpering fool tomorrow," Hitsugaya answered.

"Why'd you let such a loser into your squad, Hitsugaya?" Ichigo laughed out the question.

"None of the other squads would take him…" Both he and Matsumoto trailed off dejectedly.

Everyone spent a moment of silence sympathizing with the 10th division captain and vice-captain.

"Hn." Byakuya suddenly grunted. "This wouldn't have happened if you had just went along with the marriage plans, Rukia."

"And if I _had_ gone along with the marriage plans," Rukia countered, "You would have been brother-in-law to _that_."

"Good point."

--------------------Yikes! Revenge! But at least we don't have to really deal with Daisuke for a while! And the scene is done! Yay!----------------------

The party was pretty much over after Daisuke's vow of revenge. Everyone had left for their own sleeping quarters except for Hitsugaya, who was trying to prolong his stay as much as possible (without seeming too obvious or awkward—he did have a super cool image to look after).

"So…" Hitsugaya began. "We…um…uh…" _'Way to go, retard.'_ He berated himself.

"We should start the mission tomorrow." Rukia supplied. They were both still sitting on the front porch of the barracks, facing the courtyard.

"Yeah!" her companion eagerly agreed. "We should!"

"Any idea who's going to be joining us?" Rukia fiddled with a loose string on her sleeve.

"Kind of." Hitsugaya replied. "I figured we'd just talk about that more tomorrow when we actually have to work."

"Ah…"

Rukia looked up at the clear night sky. "Nice night tonight."

"Mmhmm…" _'Okay, Toushiro, you said earlier you were gonna try to get her to fall for you…you can do it.'_ the young man encouraged himself.

"So, Kuchiki—"

"Hitsugaya—"

Both of them tried speaking at the same time and both of them blushed. "You go first!" they said in unison.

"No, you—"

"No, you—"

Both of them stayed silent. "Okay…" Rukia said. "That was strange."

"No kidding." Hitsugaya chuckled. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You know," she replied, "I can't remember anymore."

"Me either." He laughed.

She joined in and said off-handedly, "I like that."

"Like what?"

"How you can laugh like that with me!" Rukia blushed again and tried to correct herself. "Wait, not that, you know, you _only _laugh with _me_..."

"But I pretty much _do_ only laugh with you." he smiled and glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. "It's kind of funny how much more open I am with you…"

"Yeah," she almost whispered. "Guess it all started when you ran into me at that tree over there."

Hitsugaya looked and saw that they were indeed facing that very tree in which Rukia was singing. The very tree in which she snapped him out of his funk. "Probably," he said. "You know I never thanked you for talking with me for those first few days."

"I didn't need to be thanked." Rukia turned to face him. She smiled softly.

"But thanks anyways." Hitsugaya looked down at the ground. Almost shyly he asked, "I wonder if you'll still be able to talk to me and comfort me and make me smile and laugh when you're finally married?"

Rukia blinked. What was he going on about? "I will always talk to you!" She pretended to pout and elbowed him. "Besides! I think I should be offended that you think so little of my abilities. You actually think I can't handle the pansies my brother sends to fight me?"

Hitsugaya looked startled. Think little of her abilities? "Wait! I never meant to imply that you—"

"Ha ha, I'm just kidding, Hitsugaya!"

Hitsugaya sighed in relief. "I'm glad."

The dark-haired girl commented, "I told you before, I'm not going to let some goofy jerks like Daisuke Tokugawa beat me at my own game. I won't ever get married."

"I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of marriage just yet…" he whispered to himself with a mischievous smirk.

Rukia could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. She wasn't meant to hear the remark, but she heard it anyway. She stared at her friend. Just a little taller than her, handsome face, gorgeous eyes…not to mention he was one hell of a soul reaper and one of the nicest guys she's ever had the pleasure of knowing. _'Whoever you marry, Hitsugaya, will be the happiest woman in the world.'_ She couldn't help but think. But why was her heart pained at that thought?

"Toushiro."

"What?" Rukia snapped out of her thoughts.

"Call me Toushiro." Hitsugaya cleared up. "And I'll start calling you Rukia."

Rukia slowly grinned. "I dunno…" she gave him a sly look. "I think I still prefer Mr. Grouchy-face…"

"HEY!"

And with that, the two spent the rest of their evening try to make each other laugh.

_End CH 4: Love and Quests_

*Gotei 13, better sounding than the Thirteen Court Whatever Whatever. Shorter to type too.

**So I know she wasn't exactly _born _ there, but she was a baby when she entered Soul Society, so might as well. Besides, it sounds cool.


	6. Of medicine and first encounters

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

**NOTICE:**

So, this isn't a continuing chapter for "Love And…" this is something I wrote up 'cause I thought it'd be fun. Take it as an apology for taking a week off. Chapter 5 is currently under construction and near completion. Hold on for one more day (or two, or three…).

These are little vignettes, I suppose, based around the time Byakuya goes around to all the captains asking them not to promote Rukia should she be placed in their squad. They were entertaining ideas at the time. Hope you have fun.

_Convincing Unohana_

"God damn."

This was the single phrase that rang through Byakuya Kuchiki's head as he lay on a sick bed in the 4th division.

"Now now, Byakuya," Retsu Unohana, captain of the 4th division and Soul Society's finest healer, chided. "This is only fair; one good turn deserves another."

The head of the Kuchiki clan had paid a visit to his fellow captain (as he did with the rest of the different squads) in order to inform her of his sister's situation. Should Rukia Kuchiki be placed in her squad, the young noble was to be barred from any and all seated positions. Unfortunately for him, Captain Unohana would not agree to this so easily. She required…a favor first.

"Yes, but isn't this sort of thing more suitable for the 12th division?" the stoic noble grunted—as stoically as possible, of course. "I wouldn't have expected you to be one for—ugh—strange experiments."

Unohana smiled serenely. "This is all for the betterment of Soul Society. Here at the 4th division, we strive to improve our ways of healing, which not only includes training in kidou, but exploring the medicinal value of various substances." She picked up a pen and note pad to take notes. "Now please, rate your pain from the injection from 1 to 5—1 being absolutely none and 5 being absolutely excruciating."

Byakuya retched.

"Oh my," Unohana giggled. "Hanataro! Please bring a mop and towels! I'm afraid Captain Kuchiki has decided to share his lunch with us."

"Huu-agh!"

"Goodness," Unohana put a hand over her mouth. Byakuya had managed to make the noodles he ate for lunch that day magically reappear all over the 4th division floor.

"That reminds me…Hanataro!" the healer called out. "Be a dear and fetch me some of that delicious soup from the near-by food stand!" she noticed the stare her current patient was giving her. Unohana merely smiled. "It's never good to work on an empty stomach, you know!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Chance encounters of the embarrassing kind…_

"Che, I don't see why Kuchiki needs to go around telling all the captains not to promote his sister." Toushiro Hitsugaya complained to Rangiku Matsumoto, his vice-captain. They were walking back to the 10th from a meeting with the uptight noble ("You know, you don't really have a right to call him uptight…Ow! Captain, I was just kidding!"). "She's probably just some bratty little rich girl who'd never be able to reach that level of ability anyway."

"Actually, Captain, I hear Rukia overall did very well for herself in the academy." Matsumoto contradicted. "And I also heard that she isn't Byakuya's real sister. She's adopted. It's causing quite the stir!"

The white-haired boy snorted. "Those could just be rumors. There actually happen to be some pretty nasty ones being spread about her."

"Ooh! Like what?" Matsumoto asked, excited at the prospect of juicy gossip.

"That she's a horrible she-demon from one of the tougher districts of Ruko—HEY!" Hitsugaya stopped himself. "Matsumoto! I will not be pulled into your gossip addiction!"

The busty reaper frowned. "You're no fun!" The two continued on in silence that Hitsugaya prayed would continue.

"I wonder…"

'_Somebody hates me up above.'_ Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

"…You think she'll be in our squad?" Matsumoto asked her captain.

"God, who knows. If she's causing this much of a stir in the Gotei 13, she's probably really troublesome." Hitsugaya answered, eyes closed and hands behind his head. He walked ahead of his second in command in an effort to not be pulled into any more useless conversations.

"Captain! Look out!"

"Oof!"

Hitsugaya collided with something and as a result, fell down. But the impact with the ground was a lot softer than expected…

Hitsugaya could only stare at the face just inches away from his.

"I-I-I'm really sorry!" it stuttered out. "I-I wasn't looking where I was going."

Nervous violet eyes looking everywhere but his face, soft-looking milky skin, shiny black hair framing delicate facial features…needless to say, the girl he had toppled over was beautiful. Hitsuguya was speechless.

"Um," the girl finally looked him in the face. "W-would you mind?"

"Huh?" was all Hitsugaya managed to say. He looked around and finally realized he was sprawled out on top of the poor girl. "Oh! Sorry!" Quick as a flash, he stood up and helped the pretty young lady up.

"Thanks," she nodded. She dusted herself off and said, "I'm really sorry about that…" she took a good look at what Hitsuguya was wearing and noticed the special captain's haori. "Sorry, Captain." She bowed respectfully.

Hitsugaya blushed. "I-um, it's fine."

"Well," The girl looked from Matsumoto to him and gave each a friendly smile. "I guess I'll be going then?"

"Um, yes!" Hitsugaya cleared his throat. "Sure. As you were." He and Matsumoto watched as the girl continued walking in the opposite direction.

"That was super smooth, Captain." Matsumoto shot the boy a sly grin. "For a second there I expected you to start _taking advantage_ of the poor girl." His vice-captain's eyebrows were wiggling up and down suggestively.

"Matsumoto…" the young man threateningly growled.

"That was the infamous Miss Kuchiki by the way." The blond vice-captain began waltzing back to the office giggling to herself. "Better make sure Big Brother Kuchiki never finds out you were in that _position_ with his pretty little sister."

Hitsugaya gave a shaky exhale. He gazed back at the retreating form of the adopted Kuchiki and blushed again.

"Hmph…definitely trouble."

_End._

Remember, these were just for fun and of no real consequence to our current story. There may be allusions to these shorts, but they don't really hold any importance. Just thought I'd share the fun, that's all.


	7. Love and Signs

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

Also, **to reviewer AlaeaMori**! I'm not offended at all; in fact I do that to a lot of things I read on this site—if someone's posted something really good and hasn't finished it yet, my mind just runs away the story as well. I was actually pondering whether or not to have some sort of rivalry going on while in the process of figuring out what should happen in this story. I won't guarantee the usage of the character you suggested (since I'm blanking on who he is), but let's see if something like your suggestion will actually happen…

Also, **to reviewer Kurosu**, glad to see you converted. There was just so much Ichigo/Rukia out there that I had gotten bored and stumbled upon this pairing. Ah, serendipity!

And in general **to **_**everyone**_** who reviews, **thanks! To the new and to you repeat offenders!

Also, _'these are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Just throwing it out there. **P.S.** the first part is italicized because it's a dream.

"Love And…"

_CH 5: Love and Signs: she loves me, she loves him not_

_Every single light in Soul Society was out. The moon shone high in the sky, stars winking to the sleepers down below. Stars shining, twinkling, blinking out a message of warning to a world so at ease._

_Only one was awake to see it. Only one was awake to ignore it…_

_A shadow moving among shadows. Darkness shifting like the wind, pure malicious intent flavoring the would-be peaceful night. Movements clumsy and slow yet determined to go unnoticed._

_The shadow searches, reaches, hopes it can find exactly what it needs. Exactly what it wants…_

_A door is broken. The object is found._

Rukia opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep from them. She sat up and looked around her room. Nothing was amiss: no object was moved, no noise that was foreign, no hair out of place…

She looked out the window and saw the sun barely starting to rise.

'_Great,'_ she thought bitterly as she flopped back into her pillows, _'woken up one hour earlier because of some silly dream. It wasn't even interesting…'_

Rukia spied a bird preparing itself to sing out side her window. She slammed it open and scolded, "Don't even think about it, pal!"

With a "hmph!" she again fell back into her pillows. _'Of all the nerve…'_ she turned away from her window and settled in a more comfortable position. _'_Bunnies_ never wake people up…'_

-----------------------I needed to set this divider here, but I don't want to destroy the mood with the silly things I tend to write here. Then again, I just kind of did the damage already with Rukia's grumpiness…and with just putting something here in the first place. Oh, what a conundrum indeed----------------------

It had been a few months since Hitsugaya and Rukia had begun working on their mission together. They had just gotten back from a particularly thrilling and successful hougyoku search mission in Hueco Mundo and were now relaxing in his office…well, more like filling out paper work and going through more reports to find the next clue to their next destination. And more like Rukia and Hitsugaya were filling out papers and doing the research on where to look next.

Renji, Matsumoto, Ikakku, and Yumichika, who made up the rest of their little squad, had all wandered off to find some sort of sustenance—meaning booze and munchies, of course—with which to celebrate a job well done. After all, after the huge piece they had collected from this mission, the hougyoku was almost complete! And once it was complete, it could be destroyed in its entire entirety! And then their missions together would be done.

'_We wouldn't get to work together any more.'_ Hitsugaya frowned. He gazed intently at Rukia, who was too occupied with rifling through the new reports to notice anything. Hitsuguya was quite new to the art of wooing women, so he wasn't quite sure if all that he was doing—being extra considerate of her, trying hard to make her laugh and smile, and showing off the extent of his powers—was getting through to her. _'Maybe I'm just really bad at interpreting her signals?'_ He sighed again and went back to the report he was filling out. _'Or maybe she's not sending me signals at all.'_

A hell butterfly flew through an open window in the captain's office.

"Oh, hello there," Rukia greeted.

Instead of being pure black like the normal ones, this particular butterfly had a small spattering of yellow on its wings.

"That isn't the standard hell butterfly is it?" Hitsugaya noted.

Rukia held out her hand for the little messenger to land on and sheepishly smiled at her companion. "It's a special one that's bred by the Kuchikis. Can't go around using official butterflies for non-official business can we?"

Hitsugaya snorted. "You _nobles_." He teased. It was probably a butterfly from her brother telling her about the next guy she had to fight. Every time the team was back in Soul Society to recoup, report, and reattach the newly found piece of hougyoku to its partners, he found some way to force a fight into her schedule. Not that it mattered much, what with the fights never lasting more than five minutes. The guys may be well-mannered and of good breeding, but none of that did _shit_ to win a fight.

"Geh." Rukia sighed. "Looks like it's another fight for me." She faced Hitsugaya and asked, "Think you'll be able to spare me for a good three minutes, Toushiro?" Her voice was sugary and mocking all at once.

Hitsugaya heaved a dramatic sigh. "I suppose so…" he trailed off. "But be sure to hurry back!" he mockingly pleaded.

Rukia got up and stretched. "Ha ha, if I don't come back, it'll mean I am to be wed." She picked up her zanpakuto on the way to the office door. "If I am to be wed, it'll mean that it will be time to fulfill your promise to me, Toushiro!" she cried, feigning tears.

"You mean the promise we made after that picnic in the meadow?" he asked. Of course, he had never been on a picnic with her in a meadow. Or a forest. Or a beach. Or any sort of geographical location at all. But a guy could dream, couldn't he?

"The very one!" She ran back to him and grasped his hands in hers and whispered. "Should I fail today on the battle field, you must—"

"—have your fiancé killed at the alter." He solemnly nodded. "I understand. I will not allow you to be soiled by another man, Rukia!"

Hitsugaya and Rukia gazed deeply into one another's eyes. They promptly burst out laughing. When their laughter died down, Rukia commented, "I didn't think you were gonna play along with that gag for so long! I'll be back soon, Toushiro!" She shumpoed out the door giggling.

Her companion sighed and responded only when she had left the room. "Only for you, Rukia." He was probably only ­_half_ joking about killing her fiancé at the alter.

"Hey!" a familiar voice made itself known.

Hitsugaya smacked his forehead.

The rest of their hougyoku search squad wandered back into his office with piles of food and alcohol…and of course juice for the little ones!

"You never joke around with us like that, Hitsugaya!" Yumichika whined.

"Yeah, but that's probably because he doesn't have a crush on anyone except Rukia," Ikakku laughed.

"Why did I let you people join this team?" Hitsugaya muttered.

"Because we were such a successful combination the last time we all worked together?" Matsumoto asked. "We got you and Rukia some juice just in case you guys didn't want to drink!"

The new arrivals set down their purchases at the table in the center of the young captain's office.

"But you're all missing the point!" Yumichika suddenly exclaimed. He had a wide grin on his face. Hitsugaya didn't like it…nope, not one bit.

"He didn't deny it all when Ikakku said that he had cru—oomph!"

Hitsugaya had thrown a book that hit the womanly man square in the face.

"Ah! My face!" the 5th seat squealed.

"Don't," Hitsugaya stopped him before he could continue. "You sound just like that Tokugawa."

"Speaking of the devil," Matsumoto began, "Has he been found yet?"

"Nope, but rest assured he will be _severely_ punished for not reporting for work." Ever since the night of his public defeat by Rukia, Daisuke Tokugawa had locked himself away in the Tokugawa residence. He hasn't been seen since, not even by his own family and servants. No one was even sure he was still in the area.

"Geez, just because someone tries to take your girlfriend away…" Renji teased.

Hitsugaya frowned. _'Be that as it may,'_ he thought, _'You and Ichigo are possibly my biggest competition for her…'_

As if reading his thoughts, Ikakku commented, "You know, I would've expected you or Ichigo to go after Rukia." The bald fighter put his feet up on the table and gulped down some sake. "Not our little captain friend…"

"Hey," Hitsugaya went over and swatted Ikakku's feet away from the table top. "I had a growth spurt recently!"

"Well, it wasn't much," Renji interjected. "As for you, Ikakku, Rukia and I have known each other for so long that it's impossible to see her as anything other than a sister." The tattooed red head cast a furtive glance at their team leader. Maybe he didn't show it, but he really did hope for the best when it came to his friends. "She only sees me as the brother that talks more than her other one."

"So, the thought of romance never crossed your mind?" Hitsugaya made sure he asked this in the most casual manner possible in order to conceal his concern over Rukia's history of love interests. And of course, everyone saw right through it.

"Meh, maybe once or twice, but like I said," Renji responded as he began to stuff his face with dumplings. "I'b known 'er—ubwah! Eh pweh! Krohoho! Excuse me!" the 6th division vice-captain choked and coughed on his food while everyone shied away from the flying bits of chewed dumpling. "I've known her so long that I can't possibly see her in a romantic light. I couldn't even _try_ to put the moves on her."

'_Well, that's one load off my mind,'_ Hitsugaya just barely escaped sighing in relief.

"But I guess Ichigo would be a different story now…" Yumichika chuckled.

"Think our little captain will be able to compete with that substitute?" Renji teased.

Matsumoto elbowed the ivory-haired boy and said, "I don't know…Captain's been doing some training lately and being more open and friendly." She patted him on the head. "And I think he really _did_ have a growth spurt."

Hitsugaya let the jokes get the better of him, which was visible since the poor boy's face had paled considerably. It was easy to forget about Ichigo since he wasn't around, but if Rukia was in love with the brash teenager…

Everyone watched in amusement as Hitsugaya took a deep gulp of air and asked, "Do you think something might have gone on between Rukia and Ichigo? I-I mean, they were together everyday when she was there in the living world, living in the same house, in the same room, fighting side by side—"

"But _usually_ fighting with each other." Rukia trudged into the room and collapsed in the empty seat next to Hitsugaya. "Sorry I'm late, that last fight took longer than usual."

"Oh? Did someone actually give you a run for your money?" Renji queried.

"Nope, I beat him real quick with a lower-level bakudou*. Simple and efficient—the guy gave up after two minutes of trying to break out of it." Rukia laid her head down on the table. "His mother, however, felt the need to come over and yell at me for—and I quote—'use of excessive force.'" She finished sarcastically.

Matsumoto glanced at Renji and the guys and grinned at Hitsugaya. "But hey, you never answered the captain's questions, Rukia!"

"Huh?" Rukia sat up and looked at Hitsugaya.

'_God do I want to kill my vice-captain.'_ He thought. He sheepishly smiled and sputtered out "Uh, well, you know, ehehe…"

"He means, are you and Ichigo dating?" Matsumoto translated. "I _guess_ he kind of figured, like we all did, that something would be going on between you and Ichigo by now."

"Well…don't know why you're so concerned, Toushiro, but we're just friends. Dating Ichigo would be dating a child; you know how much _older_ we are compared to him." She snatched a bottle of juice for herself and drained it dry. "It'd be gross!"

"R-really?" Hitsugaya sounded hopeful. "And I'm not _that _concerned…I just…was wondering." Curious violet eyes pierced panicking teal. He needed a much better save than that. "You know, your brother sends you all these guys to fight, but if you wanted it to stop, you could have just asked Renji or Ichigo or _somebody else_ that you like well enough to help you fix a fight."

Everyone at the table just stared.

"Fix a fight?" Rukia asked with a slim eyebrow raised.

"You know," the young man in love stumbled over his words. "Just let him win and just not have a wedding...or something. Just have, I don't know, a super long engagement." Everyone was still staring at the poor boy. "You won't be made to fight ridiculous weaklings anymore, " Hitsugaya continued, "and you won't be married—technically—and you won't have to quit being a soul reaper."

"Hmm." Rukia put a hand on her chin in thought.

Hitsugaya nervously held his breath, hoping against all odds that Rukia would just forget that he was ever questioning her relationship with her living world friend like some lovesick fool (which he was, even though he wouldn't openly admit it).

Everyone else just sat back and watched this interesting exchange between ice-wielders. This was better than dinner at the theater!

"I could do that, and I guess the idea has crossed my mind a couple times," Rukia began, staring intently at Hitsugaya with a teasing smile, "but I just have no idea who'd want to pretend to marry little ol' me!" The ebony-haired heiress put a finger on her bottom lip and cutely pouted.

Hitsugaya's face matched his hair. Three guesses as to where all the blood coloring his face went to.

"Excuse me! Bathroom!" and with that, the group's fearless leader dashed out of the room.

Rukia smirked. "That guy is just _way_ too fun to tease!"

-----------------Haha, he has a physical manifestation of his attraction to Rukia. Keehee! I swear I belong in middle school.------------------

"Geez, Ikakku, you _actually_ had to use your bankai for that one?" Ichigo mocked. He had come to watch his Soul Society friends vanquish another arrancar containing a piece of hougyoku.

"Shut the hell up!" the 11th squad third seat yelled. "You wanna go, berry-brain?"

The hougyoku search squad was out in the living world this time around and Ikakku, being the typical 11th division member, was eager to be the one to face off with their latest enemy. And Ichigo. And anyone else who wanted to fight, really.

"Looks like it's just one small piece." Rukia and Hitsugaya called out as they inspected the piece of hougyoku they salvaged from the now dead arrancar.

"You know….we still haven't seen Rukia's bankai." Matsumoto said.

"Really?" Ichigo looked over at his ex-roommate. "After all this time working on the team, you still aren't pulling your own weight, Rukia?" He grinned as she pouted. "But then again maybe you _are_ and we just haven't noticed."

Rukia smacked the orange-haired boy. "Are you implying that because I am small my usefulness is small as well?"

"Meh, if the adjective fits."

Before any fist fights could occur (or any more playful banter that didn't include him), Hitsugaya stepped in the middle of the two and said "Rukia is _very _useful."

"As a hougyoku detector." Ichigo snorted.

"Shut up!" Rukia crossed her arms. "I'll volunteer to fight and help out with other people's fights, but the G.O.M. here won't let me!" she gestured to Hitsuguya.

"GOM?" Ichigo asked Renji and Matsumoto.

"Don't tell him!" Hitsugaya commanded.

"Oh! Tell me! Tell me!"

Renji and Matsumoto looked from their captain to the substitute. On the one hand, they could face certain doom at the hands of their commanding officer for divulging the meaning of Rukia's new nick name. On the other hand, causing mischief was always more fun than behaving.

"GOM: Grumpy Old Man." Matsumoto informed.

"He has white hair, yells a lot if you misbehave, and needs to nap every once in a while." Renji continued.

"It's perfect right?" Rukia laughed.

"Hell yeah it is!" Ichigo guffawed.

Hitsugaya pouted. Rukia saw this and pinched his cheek. "Calm down, you baby, it's just a joke!"

He swatted her hand away and replied, "I know it's just a joke! Just because I have white hair does not make me old! And I have very good reason for you not to fight!"

"Yeah, you don't want your precious girlfriend to get hurt," Ikakku mumbled to the others. More laughter ensued. Hitsuguya turned bright red.

"What are they laughing about now?" Rukia asked him.

'_Thank the heavens she didn't hear!'_ Hitsugaya mentally rejoiced. He wanted to eventually confess to the girl and didn't want that ruined by being accidentally outed by his rambunctious co-workers.

"_Any_ways…" Rukia looked to the rest of her companions. "Should we get back to Soul Society?"

"No way! Why don't you guys come say hello to the rest of the guys here before leaving?" Ichigo suggested. "I'm sure Orihime and them would love to say hi, maybe have some snacks or spar...maybe Rukia could show us her bankai at Urahara's underground training room…"

Everyone looked over at Hitsugaya. "Pleeeeeease…" they all whined.

Their captain just smirked. "Do you really think I'd let us take a break after calling me an old man?"

"Rukia!" Renji scolded. "Why do you always make up such horrible names for Captain Hitsuguya?"

"Oh be quiet, Renji!" she fought back. "You were the one who brought up white hair being for old farts!" Rukia turned to Hitsugaya and said, "Please please _please_, Toushiro…"

The captain crossed his arms and let his smirk grow. "I don't know…"

"You're so smart!" Matsumoto cried.

"You're so fast!" Yumichika added.

"You're so strong!" Ikakku yelled.

"I wanna be just like you!" Renji shouted.

Everyone stared.

"Well…maybe not just like you…" Renji scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Hitsuguya gazed expectantly at Rukia. "Well, do you have anything to add?"

Rukia thought about it and grinned. She walked up to him and said "They forgot that you're _devilishly_ handsome and…" Her smile turned wily. "…I believe Renji and Rangiku once said you were the perfect height for kissing." And with that she pecked him on the cheek.

Hitsugaya was bright red, wide-eyed, and slack-jawed; he was the very picture of a red carp.

"Let's go to visit Karakura!" Rukia cheered. She and the rest of the group started wandering off in the direction of the town, leaving their captain there with his hand over his kissed cheek, gaping at the woman he loved.

It was right then and there he decided to just be direct and tell Rukia he loved her.

"Hey, Toushiro!" Rukia stopped and turned around. She waved and shouted, "Are you coming or not?"

Toushiro Hitsugaya smiled nice and slow like a breezy summer day with nothing to do but sit back and love the world. He took off running after Rukia.

Ichigo elbowed Rukia and commented, "God, Rukia, I think you turned him retarded."

------------------------You know, things don't always turn out the way I plan them to be for this thing…but gosh, do I feel warm and fuzzy right now!------------------------

All the living world gang met the team of reapers at Urahara's shop, intending to catch up and perhaps finally get a glimpse of Rukia's bankai.

When they got there, they found the shop inhabitants spread out around the shop searching for something.

"Hey, what's going?" Rukia asked when they were all in ear-shot of each other.

"Somebody tried to steal something." Yoruichi, currently slinking around as her black cat self, replied.

"What? Do you know why?"

"No, we don't why this person was here or what they wanted," the former 2nd division captain's tail twitched. "And we haven't found them yet either."

"They were probably looking for information." Urahara walked out of the shop to greet them.

"Oi, Hat'n clogs!" Ichigo called out.

Urahara frowned at the old nick name and continued in a somber tone that he almost never used. "Only my office was turned inside out by the culprit. All my papers were scattered all over the place, all my files seem to have been gone through…yet nothing is missing. We can only assume the information they needed was of great value and danger." It wasn't often that the mysterious shop-keeper had a serious look on his face, but when he did, it meant there was something to worry about.

Hitsugaya asked the question on everyone's mind. "Why dangerous?"

"Because," Urahara wryly smiled, "None my important or life-threatening information is kept in that office…and if nothing was taken…"

"…then they couldn't find what they needed." Hitsugaya finished.

"What I want to know is why you let someone break into your office in the first place!" Renji demanded.

"Oh! Well, we were busy!" Urahara's serious demeanor vanished instantly.

"With what?" the group of reapers (and one quincy and two very spiritually capable humans) cried incredulously.

"Welcoming guests from the west!" he grinned a Cheshire cat grin.

The group stayed in confused silence.

Urahara laughed to himself and said, "Come inside and I'll introduce you."

_End CH 5: Love and Signs_

You know, I think I just like being mean to Hitsugaya.

*Binding/restriction spell.


	8. Love and Revelations

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

Oi…**Thanks to reviewer Stelra Etnae**, I have realized that I've been spelling Hitsugaya's name all wrong…Seven installments and this just comes out now. I'm so embarrassed. I want to cry every time I face my computer. Slowly but surely I fixed his name wherever it came up; if I missed a few, oopsie. I feel completely indebted to you now, Stelra.

I'm too embarrassed to say anything else but the standard: To the new and repeat offenders, _**thanks for the reviews**_. Beware some original characters coming through. I hear they're tough cookies, so watch out.

'_These are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Just throwing it out there.

Did I mention that every time I go to write this I want to cry out of embarrassment?

"Love And…"

_CH 6: Love and Revelations: the discovery of new reapers and feelings._

Inside Urahara's shop sat four strangers: three males and one female.

"All right! Introductions are in order!" Urahara cheered. "Everyone meet representative soul reapers of the 13 Court Guard Squad Western Division*!"

"_Soul reapers of the 13 Court Guard Squad Western Division_?" Ichigo echoed. "They look like extras from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies."

All four new comers were wearing black clothes with minimal gold trimming, and all outfits were better suited for the men of the 1700s**. Coats, vests, breeches, and crisp button up shirts in various states of frilliness were accompanied by swords.

"Don't be rude Ichigo! You can't expect the Gotei 13 to take care of the ghosts and spiritual problems of the _entire_ world, can you?" Rukia replied. "Though there has never been a chance for direct contact, both our organization and theirs were instituted by the King himself to take care of the souls of the living and the dead through out the world." Rukia, who always had a pad of paper and sketching materials handy for any moment of explanation, held out a poorly-drawn up map of the world and pointed. "We take care of Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and islands in the Pacific, where as they—"

"Take care of North and South America, Europe, Africa, and anything in the Atlantic Ocean." One of the strangers completed. He was a teenager (or at least seemed to be; you never could be too sure when it came to the ages and appearances of soul reapers) with artfully disheveled blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a quite charming smile. "Although the North and South Poles are fair game for all." He stood up and made his way to Rukia and held out a hand to shake. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss…"

"Kuchiki," Hitsugaya answered for her. "She's Vice-captain Kuchiki of the 13th division." He inserted himself between the two and shook the strange young man's hand before it could make any sort of unwanted (for him at least) contact with Rukia. "I'm 10th division Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya, _nice_ to meet you." He added some pressure into the handshake that the stranger did not hesitate to return.

Rukia looked from her friend to the new comer. _'Why do I get a bad feeling about this?'_ In an effort to prevent any rising tension, she continued with the rest of the introductions: "A-and this is Toushiro's Vice-captain, Rangiku Matsumoto, 11th division seats 3 and 5, Ikakku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, and 6th division Vice-captain Renji Abarai." She gestured to Ichigo and his friends. "These are our friends and allies Ichigo Kurosaki, a substitute soul reaper, and Orihime Inoe, Chad Sado, Uryu Ishida, all very spiritually aware and very capable fighters." She smiled with pride.

The spokesperson for the western reapers side-stepped Hitsugaya and asked, "I never got the chance to find out your first name, Vice-captain Kuchiki." Hitsugaya didn't like this guy's smile. It was wide, pearly white, polite, suave and perfect for seducing the hearts out of women.

Nope, Hitsugaya didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Oh, it's Rukia." She answered her voice a little on edge. Rukia slid a little closer to Hitsugaya. She wasn't so sure why she felt uncomfortable with the blonde paying particular attention to her. She could handle charming men and strangers, especially when the two were combined, but now… _'Is it because...? But why would I…? Toushiro?'_ Rukia glanced at her friend. Suddenly she was painfully aware of her heart and its strange beating. _'He's standing so close. Usually _I'm_ the one who tries to make _him_ uncomfortable, but he's not even _trying_…'_ Rukia tried to shake off the thought. She looked back to the foreign reaper.

Rukia cleared her throat. "Ahem, excuse me…We haven't heard any of your names yet." She looked over at the blonde teen's companions.

"Leave it to Jack to forget all manners in the presence of pretty girls." One of the foreigners shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry, Vice-captain Kuchiki, he won't bite, he's just...extra polite to girls." The speaker had floppy brown hair, (only physically)looked to be at least 20 years old, and generally seemed more business-like than his associate. "This guy here," he bonked the blonde boy on the head, "is Jack Ripper, my Vice-captain." The man took a thoughtful pause. "He really isn't as big of a Casanova as he seems… I am Captain Fredrick Marks—just Marks is fine—of our organization's 11th squad."

Marks pointed to the largest and the oldest of their quartet. "He's George Kingsley, the fifth seat of our healing division." George Kingsley had long grey hair pulled back in a low pony tail and rivaled Urahara's assistant, Tessai, in both height and muscle mass. He smiled and said a quiet "hello."

"And finally," Marks gestured to the last of their group, a girl who was identical to Jack in both facial features and slim body type (she shared the flatness of her brother's chest, yet had _much_ more empty space between her legs) , "this is Anna Ripper, Jack's twin sister and my squad's third-seat." The only characteristic that distinguished her from her brother was her blonde curly hair, which was pulled into pigtails.

Anna, who Rukia had observed to be sizing each of her friends up, merely snorted and jutted her chin out.

'_She seems friendly enough.'_ Rukia thought sarcastically. She noticed Anna's gaze linger on Hitsugaya. She felt her face heat up. _'Why is my face warming up?'_ Anna turned her blue eyes to Rukia and smirked. _'I'm getting a _really_ bad feeling.'_ Rukia mentally scowled.

"I've been keeping up a correspondence with Marks here over the years," Urahara began after introductions were over and done with. "And I bet Rukia here knows exactly why we're all meeting here today!"

"Well, besides your little problems with breaking and entering," Rukia replied, "there's another piece of the hougyoku here, right?" It wasn't really a question. She knew the moment she set foot inside the shop that a rather large piece was located there. However, Rukia trusted Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai to be more than capable of keeping the piece safe, so instead of asking about it immediately, she waited to know more about the four unfamiliar faces.

"Wow, it's just as you said, Kisuke!" Marks exclaimed, seeming genuinely impressed. "She really can sense it!"

Rukia sheepishly smiled. "Have you been telling bad stories about me, Urahara?" she joked.

"Nothing too terrible," Marks grinned.

Hitsugaya noticed and the irritation he felt at Jack for being acutely attentive to Rukia came back and directed itself towards Marks.

"From what Kisuke says you always seem to be at the center of giant catastrophes." Anna interjected. She had quite the sneer on her face that Rukia and her friends could not overlook.

'_Why that little…'_ Rukia seethed within her mind. She knew what Anna had really meant; the blonde's words were more of an accusation than a passing comment. A list of every disaster and her connection to them began running through her mind and she almost felt sick. She felt someone touch her hand. It was Hitsugaya. Rukia looked into his eyes and found reassurance that he, along with all the other people she cared about, would never share the views of this uppity girl. This calmed her.

"Well," Rukia responded, cool as an iceberg, "That is pretty true…my friends and I always seem to get involved in quite the problems." Her smile turned cold and calculating and her voice held subtle threats. "I guess you could say that I'm _bad luck_ incarnate."

Rukia's friends realized that the serene smile plastered on her face was a very bad sign. It was a smile that called for blood and retribution. Underneath the calm yet biting conversation, Rukia was screaming _'Cross me once more and I will _kill_ you!'_

Hitsugaya glanced from Rukia to the western reapers and sighed. _'Rukia, why must I always have to worry about you?'_

After a moment of awkward silence, Hitsugaya cleared his throat and asked, "So what brings you four to our part of the world?"

"Ah, yes!" Marks exclaimed. He brought out a small box from the pocket of his coat. "Here you are, as Miss Kuchiki sensed," he said as he passed it to Hitsugaya. "It's a piece of the hougyoku! You guys must have done a number on that Aizen fellow for a piece to be shot all the way into our territory."

"This is great!" Matsumoto clapped her hands. "Double success on today's mission! Let's see how big it is!"

Hitsugaya opened up the box. Rukia gasped. "Wow! Add this piece to the one we just retrieved today and we might actually have a complete sphere!"

"Yup!" Urahara agreed. "And in a day or two I will have a device ready that will completely strip that blasted thing of its powers and render it absolutely useless."

"No more accidental arrancars and crazy hollows?" Ichigo asked.

"No more!" the salesman cried. "I wasn't sure when you guys would have the hougyoku completed, that's why there's a wait. But thank god for these four showing up!"

"What did you think we were here for? A _social call_?" Anna drawled before her companions could stop her.

"Sorry about her—" Marks and Jack were going to apologize for her rudeness but Rukia cut them off.

"Well it was certainly _nice_ for you to play _delivery_ _girl_ then," the Kuchiki commented with false sincerity. It was a malicious version of the act she would put on for the boys and girls of Ichigo's school. "I'm sure you can't do anything else."

"What did you say?" the blonde girl had to be restrained by her brother and captain.

"Oh, excuse me!" Rukia daintily placed a hand over her mouth. "I meant to say 'I'm sure you _had better things to do.'_" Her grin was positively toothy.

Everyone seemed to be suppressing giggles. Anna's companions just sighed and shook their heads.

Anna's face was becoming flushed with anger. "Now wait just one second, you little—"

"Anna, stop," Marks scolded. Marks smiled apologetically to the group before him. Ikakku and Yumichika looked eager for a fight to break out; Ishida, Chad, Orihime, Ichigo, Renji and Matsumoto were glaring and shooting dirty looks at the blonde girl; and Hitsugaya? Well, he certainly seemed calm enough…until Marks looked into his eyes and realized that the guy was ready to maim. Rukia wasn't the only one Anna was pissing off.

"We are guests here and yet you continually make snide remarks, especially to Vice-captain Kuchiki, and you actually expect her to keep _quiet_ about them? I expect you to apologize." Marks commanded firmly.

"Indeed," Rukia smirked. Anna merely fumed at the smug look on her face.

-----------------------For those of you uncomfortable with strangers, I promise I won't let these outside character schmucks take over…No! Back! Back I say! Stay away from me, Jack Ripper! You and you're artfully disheveled hair! (I'm actually pretty excited about the new guys' names. Jack and Anna Ripper, Fredrick Marks, George Kingsley…3 out of the 4 of them were inspired by some research on the actual Jack the Ripper. I…am nerd. Hear. Me. ROAR!)----------------------

After a little more discussion, it was decided that the four western soul reapers would join the hougyoku search squad on their return to Soul Society to pay their respects to Head-captain Yamamoto. Urahara would follow them with Yoruichi, Ichigo and the rest with the "Hougyoku Power Zapper Destroyer" ("Orihime, what kind of name is that?" Ichigo whined) in a couple of days.

"We'll see you later, Rukia!" Marks waved to Rukia and Hitsugaya, who escorted the guests to the 1st division while the rest of their team dropped off the newly acquired hougyoku shards at a special holding cell. "It was great meeting you!" he shook hands with her.

"Thank you for escorting us," Kingsley said. He leaned down and whispered, "Even though Jack and Marks kind of roped you into it." The older man gave a grandfatherly chuckle. "I think they made your captain friend quite irritated."

"It's fine!" Rukia whispered back. "I didn't mind at all. It was pretty funny to see you and Marks gang up on Jack for being…" Rukia didn't know how to continue.

"A stupid flirt?" Kingsley offered.

"Well," Rukia giggled. "I was going to say 'unnecessarily friendly,' but that works too. Besides," she fondly looked over at Hitsugaya who was talking to Marks. "Toushiro wouldn't be as fun as he is if he never got good and riled every once in a while."

Kingsley laughed and patted Rukia on the back. "Ah, youth…"

"George Kingsley! Don't hog Rukia!" Jack came up and kissed Rukia's hand before she could do anything about it. "It was wonderful to meet you, Rukia!"

Out of nowhere, Anna smacked Jack on the head. "Quit trying to be such a ladies man!" She shot Rukia a look of disdain before sauntering off to where Hitsugaya and Marks were standing. Jack went after her, whining about everyone being against him today.

"Sorry about her." Kingsley apologized. "She really isn't as bad as she seems…"

Rukia reflected on their meeting at Urahara's shop. Every time that wench decided to open her mouth, unpleasantness spewed forth. "No offense, but I won't take your word for it."

Kingsley laughed good-naturedly. "None taken."

The raven-haired heiress looked on as Kingsley joined his companions. She saw Anna gazing intermittently at her and Hitsugaya. _'What is that jerk thinking?'_ Rukia asked herself. Anna saw Rukia watching her with a confused and apprehensive face and sent the girl a wicked grin. Rukia's right hand itched for Shirayuki.

"Hey, Rukia," Hitsugaya called, interrupting day dreams of blood and violence. "I'll see you back at my office with the others?"

Rukia smiled. "Of course!" she waved. She watched as Hitsugaya ushered the four guests into Yamamoto's office.

As Rukia walked to Hitsugaya's office, she ran into Matsumoto.

"Hey! It's little Ru-ru!" the busty woman cried as she skipped over to join the short young woman.

"Ran-ran!" Rukia grinned at their childish nicknames for each other. "Got us some good snacks for today?"

"Oh yeah!" Matsumoto lifted up a bag of groceries. "I got us nothing but the best drinks and food!"

"Really now? The best?"

Matsumoto nodded. "Yup. Know why?"

"We have more pieces?"

"We have _all_ of the pieces!"

"Really?" Rukia exclaimed. "That's great—" Rukia abruptly stopped walking and talking altogether.

"Hey? What's with the quiet all of a sudden?" Matsumoto asked her friend. She looked at Rukia with concern.

The girl was staring up at the roof of the building next to them. Rukia could have sworn she felt a slight reiatsu there…_'Eavesdroppers?'_ she thought. She was just about to go investigate when she heard Matsumoto clear her throat.

"Rukia?"

She turned to Matsumoto. "Sorry, I thought I felt something."

"Like that stray cat?" Matsumoto pointed out. Rukia looked to the roof again and saw a grey cat lounging sunbathing.

"Oops, sorry," Rukia sheepishly laughed and started walking again. "Let's get back to Toushiro's office."

"Hmm…" Matsumoto gave Rukia a knowing look. "Speaking of the Captain…what was up with you today?"

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

"You know…that whole 'you're devastatingly handsome' kiss bit."

"I believe I used the phrase '_devilishly_ handsome,' Rangiku."

"Whatever, Rukia." Matsumoto rolled her eyes. "Way to try to dodge the subject." She nudged the girl. "Come on! I know it wasn't a full-on lip lock tonsil hockey tournament, but give me something juicy!"

Rukia placed an innocent expression on her face. "Whatever do you mean, Rangiku?"

"You know exactly what I mean, you wicked girl! Do you like our little Toushiro?"

"Well we are friends…."

Matsumoto pouted. "I'll tell Byakuya about that little peck on the cheek."

Rukia stopped dead in her tracks once again. "You wouldn't stoop so low!" she gasped incredulously.

Matsumoto put a hand on her chin and looked thoughtful. "You know, it's kind of flattering that you actually think that highly of me, Rukia." She looked her companion straight in the eyes and said "Sadly, I really would stoop that low."

"And get Toushiro killed by my brother?" Rukia's eyebrows were quizzically raised.

Matsumoto nodded.

Rukia sighed. "Well…maybe I do like him…a little." Rukia ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "Maybe! I don't know!" She looked up at the sky as if to search for answers.

"So what _do_ you know?" Matsumoto quietly asked. She could tell she was pushing Rukia into finding out something important.

"I…I know I don't really hate it as much as I let on when he tries to keep me from fighting, because it's sweet of him in a kind of old-fashioned way." Rukia put her arms behind her head. "I-I know that I only like seeing him bothered when it's something that I do, because I like knowing that I have an affect on him…"

"Go on," Matsumoto encouraged.

"I know that he's really kind and considerate with everyone despite his strict and gruff demeanor. He's funny when he wants to be, whether I tease him into it or not." Rukia closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. "I know I didn't like that other girl, Anna, looking at him the way she did, like she was plotting something…Because I know that _anyone_ could notice how bright his smile is, or how his eyes are that perfect mix of green and blue, or how wonderful his laugh is, or his big heart…and every time I remember this I feel a little hurt inside somehow…" Rukia became quiet.

'_Oh my,'_ Matsumoto inwardly swooned. _'This is so romantic! Rukia! You need to get together with the Captain right away!'_

"Matsumoto?" Rukia looked up at the older woman. "If-if I…"

"It's ok, come on," her friend coaxed. "Talk to me about anything you want, Rukia."

"Is it wrong?"

"Is what wrong?"

"Is it wrong for me to want to keep those things—his smile and eyes and laughter and everything else, good and bad—all to myself?"

Matsumoto put her free hand on Rukia's shoulder.

"Ruki, baby," She laughed, "I don't think you like little Toushiro."

"I _don't_?" Rukia looked thoroughly perplexed. Matsumoto just laughed even more.

"Honey, I think you _love_ him."

_End CH_ _6: Love and Revelations_

_excuse and errors, i rely on myself to edit. sorry if you hate this chapter, it felt necessary for what i want to do with the story.  
_

* I figured it'd be fine to use the English translation for the Gotei 13 for out western soul reapers. When it came to having the Gotei 13 co-exist with this English translation of themselves, I wanted them to be different but clearly the same…just, you know, not Japanese…I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I figure it's like different branches of law enforcement, you know, one cop station in China equals a cop station in the U.S. Laws and countries and cultures are different, but they're all still cops that have to protect the peace.

**I wanted them to have uniforms like the Bleach soul reapers do, but I didn't know what to do. Eventually I decided to settle on 18th century garb in an effort to match the vibe I got from Tite Kubo's soul reapers and the way Rukongai was represented. (I actually googled Rukongai and it brought me to some wiki entertainment thing that compared certain districts to periods of Japanese history. Am I a dork or what?)


	9. Love and the Cword

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

_**Thanks as always for the reviews**_**, from the newcomers and those of you who've been keeping tabs on me. **Super awesome!

I'm glad that none of you seem to be off put by Marks, the Rippers and Kingsley (even though I purposely made Anna a jerk…some people are completely vicious!). You'll have to put up with them for a little while longer…and my frequent usage of ellipsis.

'_These are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Just throwing it out there.

"Love And…"

_CH 7: Love and the C-word: competition, cat-fights, and on-coming catastrophes_

"So…Hitsugaya," Jack began.

"_Captain _Hitsugaya," the shorter captain corrected. After the exchange of pleasantries and an informative conversation on their respective cultures, head-captain Yamamoto decided to have the foreigners stay at the 10th division. "Finders keepers" was the phrase the old man threw around when the white-haired teen tried to protest.

"Whatever," the blonde teen waved him off. "Kisuke says that there's some sort of tournament going on around here? Something like, you get to date a princess or something if you can beat her in a fight?"

Hitsugaya froze. "He told you _what_?" the poor boy managed to sputter. He was slipping into a panic.

"It isn't _date_, Jack, it's marry." Marks said. He gave Hitsugaya a strange look. "You okay there, Hitsugaya?"

"Um, y-yeah…" he responded. Hitsugaya managed to get his feet moving again.

"Marriage, huh?" Jack scratched the back of his head. "That's pretty sudden for someone as young as me."

'_Oh, thank the heavens!'_ Hitsugaya breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah-ah-ah," Marks waved a finger at his vice-captain and grinned. "But the princess old Kisuke was talking about is quite the catch. Even I might be interested in a girl like that…she certainly has a lot of spunk to pull something like this!"

'_Shit…'_ Hitsugaya was sweating like crazy. He tried to maintain some composure, but his inner green-eyed monster was just waiting to burst out. _'I gotta get them off this topic! HowdoIdoithowdoIdoit….'_ He racked his brain for a reason—any reason—for the two males to stop talking about this, ultimately keeping them from finding out that Rukia was the "princess" in question.

"But you don't even know the girl!" Both Anna and Hitsugaya shouted at the same time.

Hitsugaya looked over at Anna. _'What the…? Does she…? But she seems to really hate Rukia…'_

Anna continued to rant, not even noticing the strange coincidence that had just occurred. "Marks! Jack! You don't even know this woman, and we come from a different place!" Anna looked completely panicked as she gazed from her twin to her captain. "Long distance relationships are hard to work out! Plus, how could you guys be willing to fight for someone you don't know?" She had her trademark sneer on her face. "Is she even worth the trouble?"

"She's worth everything!" Hitsugaya couldn't help but blurt out. "She's beautiful inside and outside and every other side there is!" He looked down at his feet. "She helped me find my way when I was lost…"

Everyone stopped and stared.

Kingsley was chuckling. "This princess of yours sounds quite lovely, Captain Hitsugaya." The elder reaper smiled and patted Hitsugaya on the back.

"So you know this fighting noble, Hitsugaya?" Jack asked. "She does _sound_ nice…But she can't be that cute…A lot of cute girls are jerks. Take a look at Anna."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Anna crossed her arms and pouted. Everyone struggled to hide their laughter.

Marks tried to move the conversation along before Anna could start attacking. "You know, this girl, the one in the tournament and the one you've been talking about, I think I remember Kisuke saying that she's Rukia. Is that right?" He asked Hitsugaya. The teen wanted nothing more than to wipe the grin right off of Marks' face.

"Ooh, that changes everything," Jack's eyes lit up with renewed interest, grinning just like Marks. "Is it Rukia?"

Hitsugaya was silent. What could he say? As much as he wanted to snarl out "Why yes, Marks, Jack, this mystery noble you have been chatting about is Rukia Kuchiki, now back off of her she's mine!" he couldn't bring himself to be so possessive. He wanted to be—god how he ached for it—but he knew Rukia would be unhappy if she ever got wind of that kind of behavior over her. And he was all about making Rukia happy.

Rukia was a gem, one Hitsugaya didn't want anyone else to discover….But he couldn't exactly lie about the identity of this spunky noblewoman. They might ask more questions and then Rukia would find out and that would land him in quite the awkward situation! And Hitsugaya was having enough trouble as it was trying to find the right moment to set Rukia aside and reveal his innermost feelings, thank you very much!

The 10th division captain sighed. "Yeah, she is." He shook his head as he fondly remembered that fateful promotions meeting that started this zany contest for marriage and his partnership with the young Kuchiki. He couldn't help but smile at the memory. "She's kind of a trouble maker _that's_ for sure, but…" he took a thoughtful pause then laughed. "I don't think I, nor anyone else who knows her and cares about her, would have her any other way!"

"Talkin' about me again aren't you, Toushiro?"

Hitsugaya nearly jumper right out of his skin at the sound of Rukia's voice.

He slowly turned in her direction. "H-hey, Rukia, M-m-matsumoto," he stuttered. His eyes darted towards Jack and the others. For the most part they seemed to not want Rukia to know they were talking about her behind her back. "We weren't talking about you."

Matsumoto, who pretty much knew the feelings of both Rukia and Hitsugaya by now, saw how nervous her captain seemed and decided to lend him a hand. "Yep! I know it hurts you to not be the center of our little captain's attention, Ruki-baby, but he was talking about me and how I don't _ever_ need to change my lazy and drunken ways!" The buxom blonde batted her eyelashes at her captain.

"Yeah right!" Hitsugaya yelled. "The day I actually _approve_ of your negligent work ethic is the day I decide to dye my hair pink." He mentally cried in relief as he watched Rukia giggle.

"Pink?" Rukia cast Matsumoto a sly glance and secretive smile began to unfurl. "I'm sure we could arrange that." She elbowed her fellow vice-captain.

Matsumoto looked at Hitsugaya. "I'm sure we could." Her gaze said _'You owe me.'_

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Matsumoto asked, preventing further prying from Rukia.

"Your head-captain and Hitsugaya here were gracious enough to let us stay at your 10th division while we rest up before traveling back home." Kingsley replied.

"Nice! Maybe you guys would like to join us for some food and drink!" Matsumoto offered.

"We would love to!" Jacks answered for everyone. "Are we celebrating something?"

"That's right!" Rukia cried. She placed a hand on Hitsugaya's shoulder to gain his attention. "Guess what!"

"I don't know, what?" was Hitsugaya's response. He prayed he was successful at hiding his faint blush.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "You're supposed to be a genius and all you give me is 'I don't know, what'?" she mocked. She was promptly elbowed for her sass.

"Ok, ok, geez…super touchy today, aren't we?" she laughed. "Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya, sir!" Rukia saluted. "Today, thanks to our entire team's efforts and the help of our allies in the living world _and_ from 13 Court Guard Squad Western Division, we now have a complete hougyoku!"

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "No way! That's great!" he cheered.

"Yup! And here we are!" Rukia threw her arms out and made a wide gesture. "The fabulous office of Toushiro Hitsugaya!" She ushered everyone in and shouted to Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika, who were already in the office waiting. "Time to party, our mission's complete!"

-------------------------Heck yes! Complete the hougyoku mission is done! But where will Rukia and Hitsugaya go from here on out? They don't have those missions to tie them together anymore…Get a move on to confessing you two! Before Jack or even Marks try to do something about it!--------------------------

Soi Fon was currently in her office. And she was currently very pissed. The 2nd division captain was glaring out the window of here office, contemplating exactly what kind of horrible punishment to give.

Aya Mayasune, the 15th seat of the 2nd division, cowered and feared for her life.

Mayuri Korotsuchi, 12th division captain and archetypal mad scientist, stood next to his fellow captain and glared down at the fearful Aya. He too was contemplating some sort of punishment to give. And he was smiling about it.

Aya Mayasune shuddered and wanted to pass out.

After a few moments of angry silence, Soi Fon finally turned around and faced her underling. A sinister grin rivaling any that Korotsuchi could give bloomed upon her face.

"So, Mayasune," the domineering woman began, "not only have you broken rule 46a of the Gotei 13 Manual of Operations by taking an unauthorized trip to the living world, you've also been caught red-handed breaking into the information vaults of the 12th division…" she paused and let the wicked smile on her face grow. "The only thing left to determine is the reason for your actions. Now for your punishment…"

Aya flinched. She in her mind she prayed, _'To the powers above, please let my family and friends remember me fondly, and let my beloved Daisuke find happiness without me…'_ Aya knew that Daisuke was more than capable of finding his own happiness with or without her help, but in her final moments of life, she couldn't help but think of that handsome handsome fool.

"You will be stripped of your rank, that's for certain," Soi Fon said. "And will be placed on suspension until I deem you fit for work again."

Aya's eyes widened and she stuttered out "U-u-un-t-t-til I a-am d-d-deem-mm-m-muh-muh-muh—" She knew that her captain could not be this lenient! Especially when she had to work a punishment out with the frightening Captain Korotsuchi.

"During your suspension you will be placed in special _training_ regime, starting tomorrow." Soi Fon had a maniacal glint in her eyes. Training for her was torture for everyone else. "Your efforts in this special program will determine your worth in this squad. You will be tortu—ehem—_trained_ from dawn to noon. After a brief resting period in which you will be allowed to eat a lunch you will find for yourself in the woods behind the south walls of Soul Society, you will report to the 12th division labs at 12:30 pm sharp, at which point you will serve as an…aid…of sorts for Captain Korotsuchi…"

Everyone knew she really meant to say "test subject." And everyone also knew that the woods behind the south walls of Soul Society were the dumping grounds for failed 12th division experiments…and these experiments were the kind that _bite_.

Soi Fon smirked. "After 12:30 pm, Captain Korotsuchi will be in charge of your fate until you report to me at dawn the next day." She turned to her fellow captain. "Is that satisfactory to you, Captain Korotsuchi."

The menacing captain of the 12th division put his hands together; his face contorted into what was probably an expression of content. "Certainly, Captain Soi Fon. This arrangement suits me just fine. Certain…experiments will be needing Mayasune's attention…"

Aya Mayasune, _former_ 15th seat of the 2nd division, shit her pants.

"Well," Soi Fon turned away to stare out her window again. "If that's all that needs tending to, have a pleasant day Captain Korotsuchi."

"Indeed," he responded and walked out of the room.

"You're dismissed as well, Mayasune." She turned her head slightly to glare at her subordinate. "And make sure you clean up your mess before you go."

-------------------------------You know, they just don't make cartoons like they used to. "It appears a swirling vortex of pure evil is coming from your floor." I love The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. What a bummer that Cartoon Network is filling itself with reality shows, just like every other godforsaken TV channel.-----------------------------

Hitsugaya felt sick. There he was, with his friends and sitting next to the girl he loved, eating good food and drinking good drinks, celebrating the end of one very long mission. Shouldn't that be considered a good time?

Yeah, right.

Hitsugaya crossed his arms and glared across the table at Marks and Jack.

"So, Rukia, we hear that there's some sort of crazy competition going on for your hand in marriage." Marks said. He was sitting across from her with an interested smile on his face.

"Hey! I was gonna ask that!" Jack pouted. He turned to Rukia. "So what about it Rukia? You some sort of princess or what?"

Rukia sheepishly scratched the back of her head and gave a small, yet nervous laugh. "Well, kind of I guess." She took a sip of tea and began explaining. "See, long story short: my older brother didn't want me getting promoted to the vice-captain position of my squad 'cause he doesn't want me doing anything dangerous, so to force me into quitting my job he decided to place me in an arranged marriage. Because I am from one of the noble families here in Soul Society, marriage means I quit everything to be a house wife." She took another sip of tea. "Not gonna happen. So I told him that if whatever guy he wants me to marry can't beat me in a sparring match within 10 minutes, I'm not marrying him."

"Wow…" Jack just shook his head. "So if anyone wanted to marry you, all they have to do is get the ok from your brother and then beat you in a fight?"

"Yep!"

Hitsugaya felt his stomach roll over in a most unpleasant manner. "Hey, Rukia? Can you pass me some of that tea?"

"Sure," Rukia took the pot and poured more of the hot liquid into her friend's cup. She looked a Hitsugaya. "Toushiro, are you feeling ok? You look a little…upset?"

Hitsugaya's look of irritation disappeared at the sound of Rukia's concerned voice. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine, the…tea seems to help."

Rukia smiled. "Well, maybe you should—"

"Maybe you should try eating something! Or maybe you feel like lying down?" Anna cut Rukia off.

Rukia's eyes were half-lidded and glaring. _'Since when were you trying to be friendly'_ the raven-haired reaper thought.

Anna shoved Rukia over and sat next to Hitsugaya. "Would you like me to get you anything special?" the blonde wench fluttered her eye lashes.

Hitsugaya was of course, caught _way _off guard. Wasn't Anna Ripper busy establishing herself as a giant witch? And now, now she was trying to, dare he say, get on his good side? He tried to reply, "U-um, no thanks, I'm fine—"

"What could you possibly do? You're a _guest_ here." Rukia nearly growled. _Nearly._ "Sit back and relax. If there's anything Toushiro needs, just let one of us get it. We know where everything is." She said through gritted teeth.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sure we couldn't convince a spoiled little _princess_ like you to do anything considerate."

"Spoiled?!?" Rukia gasped out. "You're calling me spoiled?"

"And you also suck at comebacks." Anna had a smug look on her face.

Everyone in the room exchanged glances. Marks and Jack were silently pleading Anna with their stares to stop before she pushed Rukia to the edge. Matsumoto tried not to scowl at the fact that Anna was trying to get between her two favorite ice wielders. Ikakku and Yumichika were making bets as to who would win in a fight, Anna or Rukia ("No fair, you bald asshole! I was gonna bet on Rukia first!"). Renji cowered in the corner for he knew the extent of Rukia's rage and believed the end was nigh. Kingsley decided that he did not know any of them.

Hitsugaya was reeling. _'Did Rukia just jump into an argument because Anna started being nice to me?'_ He stared in wonder at Rukia. Her face was becoming flushed with anger. He resisted the urge to pinch her face. _'So cute! Rukia, are you jealous? Does this mean what I think it means?'_

Rukia snorted and intensified her glare. "Well of course," she drawled, "compared to a giant jerk like you, _anyone_ would look like an angel. Even_ 'spoiled princesses_'." As if to punctuate the comment, Rukia took a dainty and graceful sip of her tea. "_You_'ve been acting like a brat since we first met!"

It was Anna's turn to fume. "Don't you have some rich boy to battle or something?" she eyed Rukia skeptically. "Though I can hardly believe that _anyone_ would want to marry you." Anna tossed one of her long blonde pigtails over her shoulder and stuck her nose in the air. "You practically have no boobs."

Everyone gasped.

Rukia laughed. "Are—haha!—you kidding me? Aaahaha!" she wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "I _bind _my chest so mine don't move around during missions." Many of the males shifted uncomfortably in their seats. "What's your excuse? Failure to hit puberty?"

"What!?!"

"You heard me, Blondie. Cut your hair and we wouldn't be able to tell you and your brother apart!" Rukia smiled innocently. "Better yet, if I placed one hand on the wall and the other on your chest and we turned out the lights, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference!"

"Oooh!" Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Woohoo! Good one, Rukia!" Matsumoto cheered. "Your boobs are _way_ bigger than hers!"

Anna and Rukia stared through half-lidded eyes at the 10th division vice-captain.

"No offense, Rangiku—"Rukia began.

"But you should probably stay out of the conversation at this point." Anna finished.

Hitsugaya looked between the arguing girls. "You know, why you two don't try to calm down?"

"No way!" they cried simultaneously.

"She's a major cow!" Rukia seethed as she tried to shoot lasers out of her eyes at Anna.

"And she's a major cun—"

Jack slapped his hand over his sister's mouth before she could finish.

"You know, sis, you really should listen to Hitsugaya." He feebly chuckled.

"Rukia, outside please." Hitsugaya softly ordered.

Rukia got up, followed him outside of the room, and closed the door behind her. Everyone fought to press their ears up against the rectangular piece of wood. Sadly, not all would survive.

"Rukia, I know Anna's been a real jerk since she's been here." Hitsugaya started.

"No kidding." The young woman crossed her arms and leaned against the wall next to the office door.

"I agree you have every right to be angry…" her companion trailed off.

"…but I really must control myself. Yeah, yeah." She looked down at her feet to let her hair cover up her face. "I only lost it because it…was important." She muttered, not really intending for Hitsugaya to hear. Her face was uncomfortably hot.

The young man's eyebrows rose. "Who has the bigger bust size is important?" he snickered.

"NO!" she laughed and playfully slapped his arm. "I…she touched a nerve back there, okay?" _'I can't let him know I was jealous. That would be _so_ embarrassing!'_ she thought.

Hitsugaya gazed at Rukia thoughtfully. "No one who really matters thinks you're spoiled, Rukia." He smiled fondly.

Rukia stared. _'People seriously call you a genius?'_ She finally smiled back and replied, "Thanks, Toushiro." She linked arms with him. "I think I'm ready to go join the others again."

Hitsugaya sighed. _'Now! I'll tell her I love her now!'_ he told himself. "Rukia, wait." He stopped.

Rukia turned around and looked at her friend expectantly. "Yes?"

"I-I…well…" _'Why is this hard?' _he frowned.

Rukia's brow furrowed in concern. "Toushiro? What's up?"

"Um, well, for a while now, I've been meaning to—no, maybe not for a while, rather—" All Hitsugaya could do was stare at Rukia's lips and eyes and her cute little nose. Beads of sweat began trickling down the back of his neck.

"Yes…" Rukia cocked her head to the side, questioning.

"R-rather, maybe for a while now, I think—I think…" All the white-haired young man could concentrate on was how pretty her eyes are and how dry his throat was getting and how he wished to god that all the right words would come out. "You…are…truly an admirable soul reaper."

'_I'm such a LOSER!'_ Hitsugaya mentally berated.

Rukia blinked. A faint blush spread across her face and she shyly replied, "Thank you." That means a lot coming from you." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, Rukia said, "I really like you, Toushiro, so your opinion really matters." She directed her gaze towards her feet once more.

Hitsugaya gaped. His hear soared! _'She really likes me!'_ "I-I-uh, heh, thanks!" he stuttered. "I really like you too." _'It isn't "I love you," but it's a start.'_

Rukia laughed and smiled warmly. "Now let's go." _'I don't think he really got what I meant…but I guess this is fine for now.'_ She thought.

Hitsugaya broadly smiled back. "Sure." He re-linked arms with Rukia led them back into the room.

When they got inside, they found everyone trying very hard to occupy themselves with either food or conversation. Anna and Jack were arm wrestling while Marks refereed. Renji was whistling while Matsumoto scolded him for using such a cliché in order to appear nonchalant and innocent. Ikkaku pretended to be in a drunken stupor with Yumichika feigning unconsciousness beside him. And Kingsley? Kingsley was still firm in his decision not to know anyone in the room anymore.

Rukia whispered sarcastically to Hitsugaya, "They haven't been trying to eavesdrop at all." The two rolled their eyes at each other.

"Hey, you two," Marks called out to them. "Fancy a practice match with me and Jack? Captain and vice-captain versus captain and vice-captain."

Rukia grinned and nudged Hitsugaya. "You think we can take them?"

He grinned back. _'Toushiro Hitsugaya, you CANNOT give up on this girl.'_ He finally responded. "Definitely!" _'I will _definitely_ tell her how I feel! That was only the first try!'_

"Great!" Jack came up and put his arms around both Hitsugaya and Rukia. "Maybe we can gather some important data on how to beat you in 10 minutes..." the western vice-captain waggled his eyebrows in allusion to Rukia's marriage requirements.

Hitsugaya's teal eyes sparkled with renewed determination. "Don't ever forget that you have _me _to contend with!"

'_And I won't _ever_ fail again.'_

_End CH 7: Love and the C-word_

That was Hitsugaya thinking with that parting comment, just so you know. Don't give up, Hitsugaya! We're rooting for you too!


	10. Of fear and bullies

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

**This is not a continuing chapter to **_**Love And…**_** these are just little ficlets, like the installment entitled "Of Medicine and First Encounters". **It's basically an apology for missing another week's chapter. Give the next one some time. I'm trying to make it as great as it can be. **For now, here are some things I thought would be kind of cute.**

_Captain Kenpachi's Darkest Day_

Kenpachi Zaraki, captain of the 11th division, known for his brute strength, blood-lust, indomitable reiatsu, and fearlessness during battle, was running at top speeds through the streets of Soul Society.

"Hey, hey!" Yachiru Kusajishi, cive-captain of the 11th division, yelled. She waved her tiny hands in the air. "Kenny! I've been looking all over for you!" The small girl leapt onto the back of her adoptive father figure as he sped past her.

"So what'cha been up to?" she asked.

"Nothing." Kenpachi grumbled. "It's a secret." The giant man slapped himself for letting it slip. Now the girl was _never_ going to leave him alone about it. He turned a sharp right, then hung a left down the next walk way.

"Wee!" Yachiru, a very experienced piggy back rider, squealed as she was swung to and fro. Centrifugal force was her oldest and dearest friend next to Kenpachi, of course. She giggled and went on to ask, "So what's the secret?"

"If you knew, it ain't a secret anymore, right?"

"Aww, come on! You can tell me! I promise I won't tell the others!"

Kenpachi shot his tiny vice-captain a skeptical look.

"Cross my heart hope to die, stick a 12th division needle in my eye!" Yachiru recited the edited rhyme with a very serious look in her eyes.

"I don't know, kid…" The burly man turned his gaze straight ahead and heaved a heavy sigh. "Today might just be my darkest day, and if _anyone_ were to know about it…"

Yachiru's eyes widened. Was that…a glint of _fear_ in his eyes? Nah…

"Needles from the _12__th__ division_ in my _eye_!" Yachiru pouted and started pounding her small fist into her companion's back. "Tellmetellmetellmetellme—"

"Okay, okay!" Kenpachi looked around. "Is anyone around us?"

The small girl did a quick reiatsu check. "Noooo, Ken-ken! Now spill it!"

"You take this to the grave, all right?"

Yachiru was seriously taken off guard. She had never seen Captain Kenpachi this serious or worried before. Maybe there really was a little fear behind the usually intimidating gaze she had come to know so well.

"I promise. Tell me what's worrying you." she softly encouraged.

Kenpachi made a sharp left turn and ran down a small secluded alley. "Well, you know how Byakuya Kuchiki was going around tellin' all the captains to keep his sister from being promoted?"

"Mmhmm…"

The large man gulped. "Turns out he's really serious about keepin' her out of trouble…"

Yachiru, in a total reverse of her character gasped and scolded her companion. "What did you _do_?"

"Aww, come on, Yachiru! You know I've been looking for a good fight lately—"

"What. Did. You. DO?"

Kenpachi rubbed the back of his head. "Well…I, uh, you know, asked him to fight me—"

"_AND?_"

"He said no—"

"_SO?_"

"I, kind of…threatened his sister, to, you know, _make_ him fight me."

Kenpachi glanced over his shoulder at Yachiru. She was speechless; quite impressive if you knew how she normally was. The large man gave a nervous laugh.

"At least it worked…"

The pink-haired girl was still silent.

"Yachiru?" Kenpachi took another glance over his shoulder at the small girl. "Yach—"

"AAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the small girl screamed in his ear. "RUN FASTER! RUN FASTER!"

"That won't really help you, Captain Zaraki."

Kenpachi skidded to a halt, throwing his arms out on instinct to catch Yachiru before she flew forward from the sudden stop. Byakuya Kuchiki stood before them, eyes blazing like hellfire, with the promise of unspeakable carnage.

Yachiru and Kenpachi looked at each other.

"Fuck."

------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- -----------------------------

_The She-demon Unleashed_

Hitsugaya was walking back to his office from lunch with Matsumoto and his best-friend (and current crush), Hinamori. The two females were gossiping while he walked ahead. Frankly, he was rather irritated today. Hinamori had just shared her secret crush on her captain with him and Matsumoto.

'_What is it with girls and older men?'_ the spiky haired teen scowled to himself as he listened to Matsumoto and Hinamori giggle to themselves about romance tips.

"Noooo! Stop it! I didn't do anything to you!" a male voice cried.

"Shut up, 4th division weakling!" a much deeper, albeit dumber, sounding voice responded.

The voices were soon followed by scuffling and thudding sounds. Curious, Hitsugaya abandoned his friends to search for the source of these voices. He followed the noises around the corner to secluded alleyway, only to spot Captain Unohana's 7th seat, Hanataro Yamada, getting bullied by a couple of 11th division thugs.

Now, Hitsugaya wasn't particularly friends with Hanataro, but busting on some bullies seemed like the perfect stress release for today. Seriously, what is it with women and older men?

The 10th division captain was about to call out for the two reapers to stop beating on the poor 4th division healer when out of nowhere, a young girl leapt down from the roof of a neighboring building and yelled.

"Leave him alone!"

It was that Rukia Kuchiki girl. _'Tch. Knew she'd be trouble…'_ Hitsugaya thought. Somehow, he was curious to see what exactly she planned on doing to save Hanataro and so he hung back.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the first thug, with a black mohawk, dropped Hanataro from his clutches and sauntered over to Rukia. "What's your name, cutie?"

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at the pick up line.

"My name is none of your concern." Rukia retorted.

The second thug, who was bald with two scars running down both sides of his face, snorted. "Just like what we do to this little shrimp here is none of yours." He made to continue terrorizing Hanataro.

"Eep!" Hanataro, bless his soul, squeaked and cringed away from the bald man. He looked to Rukia and cried, "Get out of here while you still can, miss!"

Given Hanataro's situation and skill level, Hitsugaya was fairly impressed with the healer's concern for Rukia. _'Chivalry isn't dead after all…'_ he thought. _'Too bad he probably sucks at fighting.'_

"Yeah, you can come along with me—" the mohawked thug tried to say before he found an airborne Rukia's foot slammed into his face.

"Aaagh!" the mohawked man clutched his face. "Mby ndose!" blood dripped down his chin and onto his uniform as he staggered away from the short girl. He spat teeth onto the ground.

The bald man turned to Rukia. "Why you little—Auuf!" in a flash his hands were cradling the spot which Rukia's right foot had collided with. "Paah!" he gasped. "My….crotch….oh my crotch." He fell over.

Hitsugaya whistled. Boy, this girl was brutal. _'Those rumors about her being a she-demon were right…'_

Rukia turned to Hanatarou. "Are you okay?" she smiled.

Hanatarou shakily returned it. "I'm fine. Th-thanks."

"No problem."

The two reapers heard the thugs get up and turned to face them. Rukia stood defiant against them.

"Look here, you little bitch—" the mohawked one began.

"That's enough!" Hitsugaya finally jumped in between the two parties.

All four of them bowed and saluted. "Captain!" they greeted.

"Names and division, now." He demanded.

"Yuusuke Ichibara. 11th."

"Tony Toneru. 11th."

"Hanataro Yamada. 4th division, sir."

"Rukia Kuchiki, 13th division, sir."

Hitsugaya glared up at the two 11th division thugs. "You two, if I ever see you causing trouble again, I will _personally_ make sure you regret it. Now out of my sight." With that, the two took off running.

Hitsugaya turned to face Rukia and Hanataro and was surprised.

"May I ask why you are glaring at your superior officer, Kuchiki?" he queried with a quirked eyebrow.

"You let them go without a punishment!" Rukia replied indignantly. "Just a slap on the wrist? I was sitting up on the roof here, having lunch, and all of a sudden there's this guy here," she gestured to Hanataro, "who was minding his own business like I was, getting the smack down from those neanderthals! Doesn't that deserve more than a simple slap on the wrist?"

Hitsugaya blinked and began laughing.

"This isn't funny!" Rukia stomped her foot. She looked over at Hanataro. "You're a victim here! Tell him he can't let those brutes get away with what they did to you!"

Hanataro shook his head. "I think I get why Captain Hitsugaya is laughing…" he replied and began to chuckle himself.

"Miss Kuchiki, what you did to those guys was punishment enough." Hitsugaya commented. "I'm pretty sure you broke that one guy's nose." He turned to Hanatarou and said, "Just go back to 4th and tell them not to help either of those two with their injuries from Miss Kuchiki here."

Hanataro saluted and ran off back to his division.

Rukia just shook her head and smiled. "I guess I did hit them kind of hard…"

"Kuchiki, I don't think the bald one will ever have properly functioning privates ever again, thanks to you." Hitsugaya chuckled. "Enjoy your day." Turned and went to rejoin his friends.

When he got back to Hinamori and Matsumoto, the two pounced on him.

"Who was that girl Toushi?" Hinamori asked, eyes brimming with excitement.

"What girl?"

"You know, the one that beat up those 11th division guys," she explained.

"That's Rukia Kuchiki." Matsumoto answered.

"_That's_ Rukia Kuchiki?" Hinamori looked back to alley where Rukia had been talking to her childhood friend and smiled in admiration. "She's tough!"

"And cute!" Matsumoto added.

Hitsugaya shook his head and chuckled—a very rare sight for his two friends. "Kuchiki…She's something else, all right…"

The two females looked at each other and cast sly glances at Hitsugaya. The young male had a faint, but amused smile on his face. He noticed the looks he was getting from his companions.

"What?" he irritably asked. His smile was now lost.

"We saw everything, Toushiro." Hinamori sang.

"No need to deny it," Matsumoto began.

"Captain likes Rukia! Captain likes Rukia!" the two ladies teased.

"Oh I do not!" he huffed. "I barely know the girl!" A faint blush spread across his face.

Matsumoto and Hinamori exchanged looks and nodded. Each of them took a deep breath:

"CAPTAIN LIKES RUKIA! CAPTAIN LIKES RUKIA!"

"I DO NOT!"

_End._

**Repeat, this is not a continuing chapter to **_**Love And…**_** these are just little side stories.** Bonus treats, if you will, since I missed a week. This upcoming update is difficult to do…


	11. Love and Trouble

Don't own Bleach. Boo.

_**Thanks for the reviews**_**, to all you new and repeat offenders**. Sorry, about how long this is getting. I'm trying not to be slow with this, but I had some big plans (I think…) and they took a little bit of time to brew.

Also, Rukia's bankai took a long time to come up with. I didn't want to make her too powerful or too similar to other bankais, but I couldn't help myself. Stuff just sounded cool and as I said in my intro-notes all the way back in the prologue, my idols are all strong women. Rukia. Will. Be. Tough! While still trying to stay true to the original Rukia-Shirayuki combo that is. And the powers of Marks, Jack, and Anna took me a while too…I did a lot of staring at a blank computer screen.

Also, I'm sure I'll be screwing something up in terms of how things work in the original Bleach universe with powers and reiatsu and such…but I guess that's why this is _fanfiction._ Oh deary me oh my!

'_These are thoughts'_ "This is speaking" and duh, this is normal narration. Just throwing it out there. There are going to be long notes at the end of this chapter (just some info that may or may not be of interest).

**Now, boys and girls, let's crack this shit **_**wide**_** open.**

"Love And…"

_CH 8: Love and Trouble: it's brewing here, it's brewing there, it's brewing everywhere!_

It was a clear, crisp evening in Soul Society. The perfect night for star-gazing, maybe a moonlight stroll with a loved-one...

Alas, as peaceful as the weather was, the overall atmosphere of Soul Society would not match.

Rukia and Hitsugaya wanted to smack themselves. All of the captains and vice-captains and practically every soul reaper who wasn't on duty showed up. Of course, word had spread about the four western representatives, and of course, everyone would come to 10th division to see them. Especially if two of those representatives were going to fight two very well-known Soul Society figures.

"Rukia! Toushiro!" Ukitake yelled waving his arms in the air. "Do your best!" The 13th division captain nudged Byakuya, who was standing right next to him (as usual, he would try to escape his white-haired colleague, but _as usual_ it wouldn't work). "Go cheer for Rukia too!"

"Please do not touch me, Captain Ukitake." Was the reply. The Kuchiki clan leader shifted ever so slightly and had the barest trace of a scowl on his face.

Ukitake shook his head and laughed. _'He's worried sick over her!'_

"Show 'em what you're made of, Vice-captain!" Kiyone and Sentaro screamed. Ukitake, Byakuya, and the two third-seats were standing on the sidelines receiving an update on all current events from Renji and Matsumoto.

"This is turning into a complete circus!" Rukia exclaimed as she waved to her brother and friends.

"Well, you can't expect everyone to _not_ be curious about our guests here. Besides," Hitsugaya smiled, "maybe we'll all be able to get a glimpse of this _magnificent_ bankai of yours." He reached over to ruffle her hair. "If it even exists, that is."

Rukia swatted away his hand. "Of course it exists! And it's a pretty cool bankai at that!"

"Hey! You two ready or what!?" Marks yelled. He and Jack were standing in the center of the expansive training ground.

"Are you really that eager to lose?" Hitsugaya shouted back.

Marks just laughed. He, Jack, Hitsugaya and Rukia were finally all facing one another. "So, how should we go about this?" he asked.

"We fight until you're both beaten, of course," Rukia answered.

"What makes you so sure we're gonna be beaten?" Jack grinned.

She merely shrugged her shoulders and gestured to the crowd. "Home team advantage."

"_Anyways_," Hitsugaya redirected, "Should we tell each other about our powers and then fight? Or leave all that a surprise?"

Marks looked over at the excited on-lookers. "Why don't we just explain as we all go along? Demonstrate and then go for it." He turned his gaze back to his companions. "I assume we can all use what you call 'bankai'?"

"Yup!" Rukia chimed.

"Would I be a captain if I couldn't?" Hitsugaya snorted.

"You know I can!" Jack whined. "Let's get this show on the road!" He jumped back from the others and drew his zanpakuto. "Cerbrius! Gather together! The Final Release*!" Jack's once silver blade became as black as sin and emanated a dark aura.

The crowd gasped and cheered as the other three followed Jack's example.

"Brace yourselves!" Marks warned Hitsugaya and Rukia. "Metestro! Final Release!" The brunette thrust his sword into the ground and the earth quaked.

Hitsugaya instinctively held on to Rukia as the ground fell beneath their feet. Dust filled the air, consumed the lungs and blinded the eyes of all. The pair of ice-wielders hacked and coughed as the dust began to settle.

"God, Cap'n Marks, you really need to give people a better warning when you do that." Jack grumbled. He searched for his and Mark's opponents and laughed at what he saw. Rukia and Hitsugaya were on the ground, entangled in each others arms. "Getting cozy there, you two?" the messy-haired teen smirked.

Hitsugaya blushed and ignored the comment. "You okay, Rukia?" he helped her up.

"Please, it was just a measly fall, Toushiro." Rukia coughed and looked around. "A…silly fall…Woah!" Rukia's violet eyes were wide with surprise.

The four of them were now standing in a giant crater, with the still-curious bystanders craning their heads to get a better view. Marks' bankai transformation had carved the earth into a smooth bowl. Many of the lanterns that had lit up the training grounds had gone out and people were scrambling to get more lit.

"Sorry about that. Still think you two can take us?" Marks grinned. His zanpakuto had transformed into a broad sword of crystal.

"Of course. Flashy tricks and swords won't scare us." Hitsugaya drew his zanpakuto. "Daiguren Hyorinnmaru! Bankai!" The trademark ice wings, tail, and flowers of his zanpakuto appeared and everyone cheered. "Let's show them what the Gotei 13 is all about, Rukia."

"Got it!" Rukia took a deep breath and held Shirayuki before her. "Upon the earth and through the heavens!" Rukia cried. "Dance with me once more, Sode no Shirayuki! BANKAI!" There was a blinding flash of light and as soon as everyone could see, a chorus of 'Oohs' could be heard along with a few spattering of snickers.

"That's her zanpakuto's final release?" Anna's snotty voice could be heard over the whispered chatter. "She doesn't even have a sword!"

Hitsugaya was completely entranced. Snow was gently falling to the ground as Rukia gracefully slid into a defensive stance. Her black soul reaper's uniform was replaced by a pure white kimono with silver butterflies embroidered into it and a large, plain satin bow billowing in the back. In Rukia's hands were two very large white fans composed of thin blades of ice, with long with ribbons flowing out their ends down to the ground. She looked more like a dancer than the fierce warrior her friends knew her to be, and the now snow-covered training ground was her stage.

Hitsugaya smiled softly and shook his head. "It figures your bankai would be something like this." He turned to Marks and Jack, who were at a loss for words and gaping at his crush. "Rukia has the most beautiful zanpakuto in all of Soul Society. And even though her bankai looks like this, I probably wouldn't underestimate her if I were you." he gazed fondly at the raven-haired soul reaper.

Rukia smirked as the snow her transformation had caused came to a halt. "You'd better listen to Toushiro, he _is_ a prodigy after all." She smiled at Hitsugaya and nodded to their opponents.

With a smirk to each other, both Hitsugaya and Rukia yelled. "Let's go get 'em!"

------------------------------------Ahh! I didn't plan on it! I even said it in one of these divider-author notes! I would not let these OC's take over! But alas, nothing goes exactly as planned for me and here we are. I like to lie. I don't know if it's enough of a habit for it to be some sort of psychological disorder, though. I'd tell you their presence has a purpose, but that might just be a lie as well---------------------------------

Every single light in Soul Society was either out or transported to the 10th division training grounds. Everyone was eager to witness the best entertainment since Rukia Kuchiki had decided to fight her way out of marriage; no one was around the 13th division holding cells.

A lone figure in black stood in the cool night air under shining stars and glowing moon. He slinked into a room of the 13th division and smirked. The guard was fast asleep with a note of apology taped to his forehead, probably from his partner who had run off to watch their vice-captain take on those foreign twits.

With special reiatsu sealing binds he charmed out of the ever-trusting Aya Mayasune** and the information he had convinced her to search for within that Urahara shop and the 12th division, he set forth to put his plan for revenge in motion.

Daisuke Tokugawa bound and gagged the remaining 13th division guard. He licked his lips in anticipation and a wild, malicious gleam was in his eyes. In the center of the room sat the hougyoku. True to the words he had overheard that blasted Matsumoto say, the sphere was finally complete.

_The object is found_. Revenge would be sweet.

--------------------------------Things are gonna get so crazy! Guys, I don't think I can handle it at all! Crap!-------------------------------

"That's her zanpakuto's final release?" Anna scoffed. "She doesn't even have a sword."

Kiyone and Sentaro were indignant. Ukitake frowned. Byakuya showed a facial tic. Matsumoto and Renji made rude faces and gestures behind the blonde girl's back.

"Guest or not!" Kiyone pointed a finger at Anna. "You better watch what you say about Vice-captain Rukia!"

"Besides," Sentaro added, "Do _you _have a bankai?"

"No, but _my_ first release—or shikay, whatever you doofs call it—could knock that pretty little bow right off her bathrobe!" Anna retorted.

"It's a kimono, stupid!" Kiyone corrected.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She waved a dismissive hand at the irritated people around her. "I'm out of here." She began to make her way out of the crowd of people who had come to watch her captain and her brother fight that little white-haired boy and that _stupid_ princess girl.

"As if those two would stand a chance against Marks and Jack." Anna muttered. The blonde had come to a deserted court yard. She wasn't too keen on her written Japanese as she was with her speaking and listening comprehension, but she was fairly certain she was at the 13th division.

"_Nyah! Vice-captain Rukia!_" she mocked. "The first release of Circe*** could have that Rukia on her knees."

'_What the hell is so great about that Kuchiki chick anyway.'_ Anna thought. _'She has those big purpley bug eyes and her hair's all funky, like some cartoon character or something.'_ She kicked at a rock on the ground. _'she doesn't sound smart at all, or funny. And so what if her boobs are bigger than mine?'_ she looked down at her chest and crossed her arms over it insecurely. _'It's not like that they're _that _much bigger.'_

Yes, Anna Ripper was completely jealous of Rukia Kuchiki. Not that she'd ever be caught dead admitting that _ever_. All the family Anna had ever known was her brother, Jack, and their captain, Marks. And since she was rather backwards in the making-friends department, they weren't just the only family she had ever known, they were also the only people who would tolerate her antics. You couldn't really blame her for being afraid that some strange woman they had just met might very well be then end of her small social circle.

"Why are Marks and that stupid brother of mine so interested in her anyways?" Anna threw her arms into the air and screamed, "Rukia Kuchiki SUCKS!"

"I quite agree."

"Aah!" Anna spun around and unsheathed her zanpakuto. "Who are you? Who's there?"

A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a young man around her age…tall dark, hair, and a boyish face that could get any woman to do anything.

"Sorry to frighten you." the strange boy held his hand out to shake Anna's. "I'm Daisuke Tokugawa, and I think I may have a proposition for you…"

----------------------------Oh, man, even I didn't see that coming! And I'm writing this damn thing! Lemme take out my jazz hands for a second here: (sings) shoobeedoowapwap! Scene change!-----------------------------

'_Crap!'_ Hitsugaya frowned. Sure, he was confident in his abilities, but he didn't think it would be this tricky fighting Marks and Jack. He stole a glance at Rukia, who was currently surrounded by at least seven Jacks.

"Hitsugaya! Don't get so distracted!" Marks shouted as he charged his opponent. His body was now covered in a thick metal armor that was impossible to cut.

Hitsugaya dodged the blow. "Who says you deserve my full attention?" he smirked and shunpoed away from Marks. Try as he might, Ryusenka****, an ability that would freeze his opponent to their very core when stabbed, would not work due to that blasted armor of Marks'. Hitsugaya would have to do something else. "Sennen Hyoro!****" he bellowed.

"Shit!" Marks cursed as he saw pillars of ice begin to materialize before him. He could feel the cold surround him and slow his movements. He stabbed his sword into the earth with all his might and shouted "Ring of steel!" Immediately giant, spikes made from metal and rock rose from the ground around Marks at an angle. Marks pulled his sword from the dirt and immediately the spikes began to spin around him, destroying the forming pillars meant to freeze and trap him.

"Figures," Hitsutgaya muttered.

Marks chuckled. "You're really playing hardball, aren't you?"

Hitsugaya shrugged, "Might as well. Don't want to ruin my reputation after all."

"Got to give everyone watching an _electrifying_ show too, right?" Marks grinned, his armor reflecting the lights in the sky and on the ground.

An idea suddenly hit Hitsugaya. "Yeah, right! Electrifying!" He threw his hand out and cried, "Hadou number 63! Howl of singed thunder!" He put all the reiatsu he could into the spell.

"Oh god_damn_ it!" Marks yelled as a thin stream of lightning flew towards him. His thick metal armor was a good defense, but at a great price.

"AUGH!"

Marks was not fast enough to get out of the way of the blast. The western captain could _definitely_ feel the blast sear through his armor. He grit his teeth in pain and tried to focus on getting out of his armor. He finally got the metal plates to fall off and back into the earth from which he had summoned them.

On the ground and breathing hard, he gasped out, "Metal as a conductor…huu...huu…Good one!" Marks' clothes were singed and faint wisps of smoke came from his body.

"Give up?" Hitsugaya stood before Marks and held his hand out in assistance. "Though I certainly won't have a problem continuing."

Marks gave him a good-natured grin and accepted his help. "I think I'd like to take a break…that Hadou spell of yours really packed a wallop." He nodded to Rukia and Jacks. "Let's go see how your girlfriend is fairing against my vice-captain."

Hitsugaya turned red. "She isn't my girlfriend."

"But you'd like her to be! I see how you two look at each other and the way she and Anna got into it earlier proves she's into you!" Marks laughed. "Don't worry! I'll stop talking about that marriage stuff with Jack and tell him to back off of her."

Hitsugaya turned even redder. "Thanks," he feebly replied. "But what about you?" he pointedly looked at the taller male. "You weren't as forward as your friend there, but you definitely _seemed_ interested…"

"I'll try, but I won't make any promises," Marks teasingly grinned. "You, of all people, know how great a girl she is." He winked. When he saw Hitsugaya's face falling into a glare, he laughed and continued, "Come on! I'm kidding!

"Sure." Hitsugaya snorted. The two faced the area where Jack and Rukia were fighting. They were quite surprised to find the number of Jacks to have doubled.

"Yeah, Rukia? I don't think that slice 'em and dice 'em approach of yours is working…" Jacks laughed. "The Hydra ability is pretty tricky for a lot of people. You slice them and that just doubles the number of Jack copies to deal with."

Rukia gave him a sardonic grin. "No joke; I'd do well to keep them from increasing…"

"Especially since they all come equipped with all my attacks." Jack continued. "And believe me, all those attacks coming all at once are not a pretty picture."

Rukia smirked. "Good thing I don't just summon freezing ice blades with these fans of mine." The raven-haired reaper raised her fans into the air and brought them down with a single, graceful swoop. With this one gesture, all the snow that had covered the ground flew back into the air, blinding everyone. When it settled onto the ground again, each and every fake Jack was frozen solid. A light dusting of snowflakes on each was the only evidence of the attack ever happening.

"Damn…" Hitsugaya breathed. Indeed, he was right when he had advised Marks and Jack not to underestimate her.

"Hey!" Jack spun around, looking all over for his opponent. "Where'd she go?"

Indeed, Rukia was not to be seen. Unless she wanted you to see her, of course.

"Look sharp, Ripper!"

"Gah!" Jack barely dodged the fan that Rukia had swung at him…from about 15 feet above the ground. Jack looked down at the ground he had been standing on only to find a large, deep gash in the earth and snow. He whipped his head up to gape at Rukia who seemed to be floating on air. "Those things are made of blades? And how are you up there?"

"You never asked what they were made of!" Rukia replied. "And I'm standing on small ice pieces I just summoned!" And with that Rukia leapt down and used her fan's ribbon to swing it towards him once more. With her other fan Rukia made a half-circle in the air and a slicing motion.

Jack blocked the fan with his sword and laughed. "Come on! That again? You—" Jack was suddenly silent. He could feel the coldness of it before he could actually feel the edge of the object itself. He craned his head around to try and see the huge blade Rukia had summoned against his back.

"Cat got your tongue, Jack?" Rukia chuckled. "Or is it a blade at your back?"

Jack was silent for a moment, contemplating his next move. He could feel the chill of the blade coursing through his body already. Concede or keep fighting? He needed to decide fast!

"I'd make a decision if I were you…" Rukia smirked. "Wait too long and you'll get frostbite."

"Shit…" the blonde cursed. "No matter what move I do, that blade will always be there ready to cut me down, won't it?"

Rukia nodded with a bright smile. "Yeah, pretty much."

Jack lowered his sword and took a bow. "You're a regular demon, you know."

"As long as I'm a demon who wins!" she smiled. She let the blade behind Jack's back dissolve.

"Don't let your guard down just yet! Look!" Hitsugaya yelled. He and Marks made their way closer to Rukia and Jack—Marks next to his vice-captain and Hitsugaya shielding Rukia.

Rukia could sense it before she could ask what was going on. Her eyes were wide with shock as she yelled for all to hear: "Hollows are coming! WATCH OUT!"

"Look!" Hitsugaya pointed above them at a Menos who had stuck his head through a hole in the sky. The hole was increasing in size with no indication of stopping. As the first Menos looked around him to observe the mass gathering of soul reapers below it, a myriad of other hollows and even some arrancars and other Menos could be seen trying get around him and into Soul Society. They writhed and pulsed, a ring of destruction waiting to descend upon the crowd.

Panicked screams and shouts began to fill the air. It began to snow again.

"What is going on—"

"Why are there so many of—"

"CALM DOWN!" Head-captain Yamamoto bellowed. There was instant quiet, save for the sounds of hollows trying to invade the world below them.

Yamamoto commanded for all to hear. "I want all 4th division healers to gather and be ready for casualties. No reaper is to take on an opponent they are not strong enough or skilled enough to take down, especially on their own! Leave all stronger hollows, Menos, and Arrancar to your seated officers, Vice-captains, and Captains!" He looked around at everyone and continued. "Most of all be sure to keep an eye out for each other! Let's get this situation under—"

"LOOK! HE'S DOING SOMETHING!" Jack shouted. Everyone turned their attention back to the sky. Multiple gasps and screams were heard. The look-out Menos that first entered their world was getting ready to fire a cero towards them!

The crowd began to panic once again.

'_Damn it!'_ Yamamoto cursed. _'At the rate this group is panicking it's going to turn into a huge unruly mob and then no one will be able to defend us properly.'_ The old man was getting irritated. And when he noticed the snow he couldn't help but bark, "Hitsugaya! Control yourself!"

"It isn't him, sir!" Rukia cried out. "Don't worry, I've got this one!" With that single proclamation almost all eyes were on her. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Rukia, who was crouched low on the ground, began another dance. She took a few light steps, swaying and twirling to music only she could hear, brought her fans up above her head and swung them down.

The Menos fired his blast.

There was screaming once more.

The sky was filled with white.

"What the hell…Rukia?" Hitsugaya gasped and looked at his companion in admiration.

Rukia gave a shaky grin. "Job well done if I do say so myself." She said, still poised to continue her deadly dance.

All of the snow had gathered to form a shield to protect the crowd from the blast. "No kidding," Hitsugaya looked back at the sky with awe.

Rukia smirked. "Now watch this one!" Again, she made graceful and light movements and the snow that was protecting them changed into a field of long, pointy pure white blades that flew towards the onslaught of monsters.

"Watch out for the bodies!" the young Kuchiki hollered. Many of the hollows that were pierced by the spikes fell to the earth, frozen and bleeding.

"Nicely done, Vice-captain Kuchiki!" Yamamoto cheered. "Now why don't you let the rest of us get in on the action?"

"No kidding, Rukia!" Hitsugaya chuckled and playfully elbowed her. "Why don't you leave the rest to us? Hey, Rukia? Rukia?"

Rukia's eyes were wide and her mouth gaped. She looked completely in shock and had to force herself to stutter out, "Ah-ah-I know why this is happening!"

"What!" Hitsugaya took hold of her shoulders and asked, "What are you talking about?"

All of the captains and vice-captains were crowding around the two by now, straining to hear what would be said.

"I can sense it, and so can they!" Rukia looked Hitsugaya straight in the eye. "The hougyoku! It's here! It's not in the holding cell!" she wailed. "That's what those monsters are coming for!" she glared up at the sky. The hole had stopped growing and most of the hollows had retreated after Rukia's attack, but there were still some higher-level ones trying to enter their world.

"What? Rukia, are you sure?" Ukitake asked.

"Oh, I'm not too sure I'd trust _her_, Ukitake!" a voice cackled. Up on the roof of one of the nearby buildings stood Daisuke Tokugawa, emanating a power that was not his own.

"She's a filthy, common _liar_ who's going to DIE!"

Rukia's eyes widened even more.

From the sky, coming at a speed almost too fast to beat, a stream of crackling, searing-hot lighting flew towards her.

"RUKIA!"

_End CH 8: Love and Trouble_

Hope those fights weren't as slow as I perceived them to be. There'll be more on the way (I think), so expect the updates to be slow.

*English translation bankai time!

**See previous chapter.

***if you couldn't tell, it's the name of Anna's zanpakuto.

****Hitsugaya's bankai abilities! _Ryusenka (dragon hail flower)_: freezes an enemy when stabbed, encasing them in a frozen cocoon, enabling Hitsugaya to shatter them or whatever he wants to do. _Sennen Hyoro (thousand year ice prison)_: summon ice pillars that freeze enemy for 1000 years. _Guncho Tsurara (icicle flock):_ tons of shards of ice come at enemy with the intent of impalement. _Hyoten Hyakkaso (frozen sky-hundred flowers funeral)_: 100 snowflakes fall down from the sky and anything they touch gets turned into a frozen flower.

**General comments about the bankais that were not Tite Kubo sanctioned (in case you're interested):** For Marks I was thinking of the earth and meteors and metal and things that were massive or really heavy; things just went from there (Metestro!)—he takes things like metals from the earth and uses them for defense (armor) and offense (underground spikes). For Jack, I was thinking of Cerberus the multiple headed watch dog of the underworld and based his powers around that mythological beast (Cerbrius!).

For Rukia's bankai, all over the net there's this focus on butterflies and dancing, and I wanted to stray a little from the butterflies bit but keep that whole dance thing in there (I mean, look at the names for her shikai attacks!). In my head it was all a dance, never really introduced by words but rather actual dance moves (except for one that is). Just in case you couldn't gather this info for yourself, tah dah! Pretty wordy, but since she's a main character, you can just deal.

The basics of Rukia's abilities: ability 1: from the snow that falls after she initially unleashes bankai, she can make those flakes spread far and wide or swarm a single spot and freeze her target solid. Ability 2: summon blades of ice from water and ice in the environment that cut through anything and can also freeze anything, the movements of these and where they materialize are controlled also by a dance. She can also use the snow that comes from her first ability to make these blades. Blades can have other uses for Rukia besides cutting and freezing. Ability number 3: These ice users use moisture in the environment, and for the purposes of this story, everyone's blood—reapers, humans, hollows and the like—contains a certain amount of water. So basically, Rukia can freeze her opponent's blood, or manipulate it into a blade that slices them from the inside. The trade off for this is it consumes a lot of reiatsu and she still isn't very good at it yet, either damaging herself or an innocent bystander (it's usually herself though).

Standard freezing from contact of all ice made objects and even fans made of blades apply.


End file.
